Current Conservation: Saving the Cute
In the world of zoology, conservation usually means protecting wild species from going extinct. Conservation is not cheap, it requires funds, thus conservation societies run solely off of donations from the public and sometimes money from the government. This is slightly flawed though, the donations usually go to an animal that people like. One they think of as “cute” in their eyes. People usually don’t consider the costs of protecting a certain animal, the potential benefit to the environment for donating to that animal, or how close it is to the brink of extinction when donating. This leads to the animals that humans see as “cute” getting most of the funding.
The best example of this is the giant panda. They are expensive to maintain and very slow to breed. Pandas require specialist care, feeding almost exclusively on bamboo and rarely mating, yet they get so much attention. The amount of money it would take to produce several baby pandas could literally save several other species. Chinese Alligators do regularly breed, they don’t require bamboo, and they are not that hard to take care of, they just need the funding. You can say the same thing for Philippine and Orinoco Crocodiles who are at more risk than the pandas but will regularly eat fish and chicken. They also breed regularly. More funding could save these animals but the pandas get all of the funds because of course, they are “cute”. Pandas also have little ecological benefit. They simply walk around and eat bamboo killing a rodent or a small deer if it gets close enough. Alligator gar on the other hand are the main creatures controlling fish populations in the Mississippi and Missouri River. Not only do they control populations of native fish species, but they are North America’s last hope to remove invasive Asian Carp. Alligator Gar are the only creatures who will eat these creatures, so more gar can help reduce and possibly stabilize the carp populations. They also aren’t at too much risk. They are classed as Vulnerable, getting lots of protection of protection from the Chinese government but the bluefin tuna which is classed as Endangered has little protection from the government and is often killed for its meat.
These adorable animals are the faces of conservation, getting almost all of the funding. Even WWF uses a panda for their logo. They do share some of the money earned but most of it goes to the pandas. Should we really let how pleasurable an animal is to humans, decide whether it lives or dies?
More proof of this is shown with the Brumby Controversy (Here is a link to the other article I wrote about the brumbies). Brumbies, also known as Australian Feral Horses are being eradicated for their ecological damage as an invasive species yet many animal rights activists speak out about this. They say we shouldn’t cull these animals, yet they are destroying the habitat for hundreds of species. The culling has actually been stalled, putting many species at risk.
Honestly our conservation system can only change by getting government level funding. By acquiring this funding from an un-biased source, we can finally start punting more money towards those who really need it most.
