VIEWPOINT

Conservation Conversation

The last place in the world that you would want to be is on an endangered species list. It is not that this list is unique other than the fact that we actually keep one. It is the other fact that extinction is only one step away. The process of extinction is quite common though it occurs at a slow but continuous rate. A mind-boggling number of extinctions have been estimated; it is a fact of life. What is currently worrisome is the rate of extinctions since we, as humans, showed up. We are in what is called the Holocene extinction event and it appears that we are responsible to a great extent for what is happening around us. We even plan extinction – polio and smallpox are on that list; some varieties of malaria-spreading mosquito are under the microscope. We are good at unplanned or indifferent extinctions as well. In just the last 500 years, over 780 species have disappeared. We are good at killing fat, flightless Dodos and Great Auks up close or, from a safer distance, warm the planet enough to dry up all the Golden Toads in Costa Rica. Our work isn’t done yet. There are currently 968 animal species on the Endangered Species List; that number increases to 1555 when you add the plants.

We do a bad job of living here. Species move along in all fashions; none, except us, are conscientiously worried about extinction. They move forward with a small expectation of grappling with life each day or night. We, on the other hand, have life planned out from beginning to end. We may even have our children’s lives planned out. So what do we do? We ruin the garden we live in. We are like the KT asteroid that struck the earth 65 million years ago and annihilated 80% of life established here. The asteroid had no choice. It was a dumb rock. With our thoughtlessness and, more surprisingly, with a certain amount of thoughtfulness we cover the earth with the ash and dust of our industry and degrade our oxygen and water with our gasps of invention and our thirst for progress. But we are not the top branch of a tall and elegant tree of evolution; we are a thin and dangling twig struggling for meaning and survival, and still somewhat attached to the Stone Age. (My mother finds the Geico® cavemen “attractive”!) Our place in this world is not at the top but at the forefront. We are on the frontline of destruction through cause or care.

Thankfully there is a movement that arose late in the last century that recognized the trouble in our backyard. It lead to endangered species acts and biodiversity action plans in many countries. Within our own zoological community, we awakened to the same. AZA recognized conservation as ‘the highest priority’ in 1980. Today you see that word aligned with amphibian, elephant, action partnerships and endowment fund initiatives embraced by AZA. We are still in the infancy of all of this. There is an awful lot to do. Our zoos are relatively new to this message and this responsibility; the challenge is how to get the message out. The World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Strategy reminds us that “ it is becoming increasingly evident that conservation is not only a matter of saving species and habitats but, to be successful, also needs cooperation and a global approach. Zoos and aquariums, because they care for, and have expertise in collections of living animals from around the world, and because of their global network, can play a major role in promoting conservation cooperation on a global scale.”

AAZK, Inc. and AAZK Chapters are doing it, too. We started thinking about it back in 1968 with a project called ‘Operation Concern’ and moved forward with an initiative called the Conservation, Preservation and Restoration Committee (CPR) that sheltered Save Our Species (SOS) and Ecosystem Survival Plan (ESP). Bowling For Rhinos has raised over two million dollars. We deal with local councils, boards and administrations. We deal with municipal, state, provincial and federal governments. We deal with non-profit groups and non-government organizations. We are talking locally, nationally and globally.

In this conversation on conservation, as the calls and cries of many life forms diminish, we will look for our voice and, in the end, we will have the last word.

Mark de Denus
Editor
AAZK INSIGHT

(Editor’s note: The Viewpoint Column offers readers an opportunity to their express opinions on topics related to the profession of animal keeping, AAZK or AKF. It is not a forum for expressing disagreements with employers about labor-related issues. Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of AAZK, Inc. or Animal Keepers’ Forum. Publication of opinions in this column does not constitute endorsement by AAZK, Inc. or Animal Keepers’ Forum. Materials submitted are published at the discretion of the editor.)