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CONSERVE THE KILLERS:
WE NEED AN ENVIRONMENTAL WAKE-UP CALL
By Kendall Allen
“We don’t eat lion burgers.” That was my response while arguing with
a colleague about the moral dilemma of the recent Cecil the Lion shooting.
My colleague is an avid hunter. He has often dreamt aloud of bear hunting in
Canada with a Magnum handgun. I’ve seen pictures of his most recent kill, a
black bear that looked scarcely older than a cub. To his credit, he did have
the bear processed and kept some of the meat while selling the rest to an
exotic meat shop in his home state of Wisconsin. But, make no mistake, his
goal was not to feed a hungry family. He wanted the pelt and head for his
wall. Understand, I am not condemning all hunting. In fact, two of the most
intelligent and ardent defenders of nature that I know are hunters. However,
they are not fanatics of the kill. These two men will not take the shot if it is
not a certain kill shot. There is an honor code instilled in them to eat and use
everything a hunter takes, and these true outdoorsmen enjoy being in the
woods as much as the hunt itself. What I do condemn is trophy hunting. We
humans do enough damage without killing for fun. I also believe we should
find better ways of protecting our own food sources and properties from
other animals. This planet is made up of complex and fragile ecosystems,
and everything we do affects those systems (Sodhi, Brook, and Bradshaw
514-515). Yes, there are many causes for concern on this planet that seem
more important than fauna conservation: war, economic collapse, and basic
human rights, to name a few. Even meteors are racing toward us at this
very moment (Amos). However, we
need to realize how much we truly
affect humankind’s future by
destroying the presence of so many
of our co-inhabitants of this planet.
If this realization does not occur,
then generations ahead won’t have
to worry about death hurtling toward
them from infinite black space.
Clearly, not all animal deaths
Fig. 1. Graph of human population and species
extinctions (qtd. in “Human Population”)
are from trophy hunting. Farmers and
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ranchers all over the world kill carnivores while defending their properties
and livestock. According to the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature, this type of killing is one of the main factors in the African lion's
decline (Bauer et al.). North American ranchers have aided in the thinning of
the gray wolf and the grizzly bear, animals that once were abundant
throughout the continent, to less than four percent of their estimated prewestward expansion numbers (McLellan, Servheen, and Huber; Mech and
Boitani). In fact, the grey wolf is now considered extinct in Mexico and much
of Europe (Mech and Boitani). Mountain lions were nearly wiped out when
settlers pushed west in the continental United States in the 19th century
(Seidensticker 113). While a good number of herbivores were taken for food,
the big cats were on “varmint lists that encouraged people to shoot them on
sight,” according to John Seidensticker, a doctor of Conservation of Biology
and working biologist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park (113).
Sea lions have been pushed to near endangered status by fisheries in the
North Atlantic (Stump 11). Evidently, humanity will not tolerate competition
in acquiring our “fish fix.” Beast and human seem locked in a turf war for the
planet and its resources, and it is a very one-sided affair.
What many people fail to realize are the consequences of these
creatures being thinned-out and killed off. The ecosystem does not just lose
a single species. The loss creates a domino effect where multiple
interdependent organisms are affected. William Ripple and Robert Beschta
write about this domino effect in their article “Wolves and the Ecology of
Fear: Can Predation Risk Structure Ecosystems?” They assert that vast
swaths of the Western United States, including much of Yellowstone, have
experienced severe over-grazing. With large predators not around to keep
them in check, local herbivores decimated many species of shrubs and trees.
In turn, this has affected the smaller organisms that rely on those plants for
survival. Beavers have less material to build dens, small woodland mammals
and birds have fewer options for nesting and foraging, while bees,
butterflies, and other insects have fewer flowering plants to rely upon for
nectar (Ripple and Beschta 755-765). It’s all a complex and linked system. If
we eliminate or weaken a link, the chain breaks.
In all of this negativity, one positive note from my research is the
evidence that awareness is growing (albeit slowly). A simple web search will
reveal a multitude of organizations trying to educate the public while funding
methods to battle overexploitation. You may wish to take a more personal
and local route. Educate yourself about where your goods come from. Don’t
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support the fur and ivory trades or the fisheries and ranches that have a
history of legal battles due to fishing in protected waters or killing protected
predators on their land. If you move to a new location or go vacationing,
educate yourself about the local wildlife. Seidensticker informs us that
mountain lion attacks may come about by the victim kneeling down (“a
person squatting or bending over looks a lot like a four legged prey animal”)
or dropping eye contact from an encountered cat (113). It has been
suggested you can ward off puma attacks by maintaining eye contact,
standing tall, and making a lot of noise. Most big cats have no interest in
you unless they are sick or protecting cubs (Seidensticker 113). Many
animals have received negative stigmas because of stereotypes, much like
many people. Should we try to befriend and pet all these creatures? No, nor
should our first reaction be to open fire. Through awareness and education,
people can learn to respect these animals instead of fear them.
As stated before, the consequence of driving species to extinction
hurts everyone in the long run. I cited an example of the domino effect of
extinctions in North America, but it is happening worldwide too. Both South
America and much of Asia have experienced the impact of species reduction.
Hunting, deforestation, climate change, and the overuse of pesticides have
altered the ecosystems in those countries to the point that once plentiful
native crops have become increasingly more difficult and expensive to
maintain (Sodhi, Brook, and Bradshaw 519). With the population of human
beings continually on the rise, it would seem counter-productive to hinder
the ability to produce food. Anthony Barnosky, a biologist at the University
of California-Berkeley, says, “We have killed about 50 percent of the world’s
vertebrate wildlife in just the past 40 years. We’ve killed half of the
individuals. We’ve fished 90 percent of the fish out of the seas. So these are
big things we’re doing to the world” (qtd. in Mooney). That is a staggering
and scary statement. We are heading in the direction of a world where our
wildlife won’t be wild at all. We’ll have to farm animal and vegetation alike.
Earth will be a great big world of products just for one species’ consumption.
No doubt, we will tell stories of the past, as humanity tends to do. These
stories will be fantastic tales of magnificent creatures, exotic plants,
beautiful birds, and fascinating insects that once existed. Of course, there
will be legends of the hunt, because hunting will be extinct too. We will tell
stories of brave heroes who saved us all from bloodthirsty beasts that tried
to consume food meant for man. Then we can rest easy—at least until our
celestial doom falls from the heavens.
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Works Cited
Amos, Jonathan. “Asteroid impact risks 'underappreciated.’” BBC. BBC, 22
Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Bauer, H., et al. “Panthera leo (African Lion, Lion).” IUNC Red List.
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources,
2016. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
“Human Population Growth and Extinction.” Center for Biological Diversity.
Center for Biological Diversity, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
McLellan, B.N., C. Servheen, and D. Huber. “Ursus arctos (Brown Bear,
Grizzly Bear, Mexican Grizzly Bear).” IUNC Red List. International
Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 2008. Web.
16 Nov. 2015.
Mech, L.D. and L. Boitani. “Canis lupus (Arctic Wolf, Common Wolf, Gray
Wolf, Grey Wolf, Mexican Wolf, Plains Wolf, Timber Wolf, Tundra Wolf,
Wolf).” IUNC Red List. International Union for Conservation of Nature
and Natural Resources, 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Mooney, Chris. “Our planet may be on the verge of its sixth mass
extinction.” The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 28 Nov. 2014.
Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Ripple, William J., and Robert L. Beschta. “Wolves and the ecology of fear:
can predation risk structure ecosystems?” BioScience 54.8 (2004):
755-766. Student Resources in Context. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Seidensticker, John. “Mountain lions don't stalk people. True or false?”
Smithsonian 01 Feb 1992: 113. Student Resources in Context. Web.
17 Nov. 2015.
Sodhi, Navjot S., Barry W. Brook, and Corey J.A. Bradshaw. “Causes and
Consequences of Species Extinctions.” The Princeton Guide to Ecology.
Vol. I. Princeton: Princeton Press, 2009. 514-520. Book.
Stump, Kenneth. “Sea Lions vs. Fisheries.” Earth Island Journal 15.2 (2000):
11. Student Resources in Context. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.