Poaching Problem
Sameeksha Nalla
In areas where there is rampant poaching, the populations of animals that are illegally hunted such as rhinos, elephants, and wolves are decreasing more rapidly than the species can recover which is leading to a majority of those species to become threatened, endangered, or extinct. The environment is also suffering due to the decrease in all of these species at the same time.
As one species is poached, it becomes endangered and threatens the stability of the environment in the process as the environment of the poached species is usually sensitive, and this imbalance can lead to other species to become threatened, endangered, or extinct since all of the species in that environment are connected through the food web.
For example, the North American gray wolf was almost extinct due to poaching. Since the North American gray wolf is a keystone species in its environment, Yellowstone National Park, the decrease in wolves caused the food chain to slowly crumble as the elk population soared due to a lack of predators. With virtually no predators, the elk almost ate the aspen tree to extinction. Ever since the North American gray wolves have been reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park, the elk populations have stabilized, but more importantly, the aspen population came back from the brink of extinction.
What are some potential solutions to poaching?
What would you do to combat the effects of poaching on the environment?
Would you ever own an animal product that was obtained through the method of poaching?
18 comments:
One important solution to poaching is government regulations. This could really reduce the amount of poaching, and with high fines associated with poaching, people will do this less. Although there will be illegal poaching, regulations will still reduce poaching of threatened animals. After reading about the effect of poaching on food webs, I realized poaching affects much more than the animal that is being poached. So, we should reduce poaching to help other animals. It might be difficult to get products not make from poaching, since they are everywhere. But, if I know the product is form poaching I would be mindful and not get it.
Poaching is a horrible problem that definitely needs to be solved. Countries should implement laws that would ban poaching, or if laws are already implemented then they need to enforce it more. A large issue is poor enforcement of laws, that is why many issues still persist like climate change and pollution. Personally, I can stop poaching by signing petitions or advocate against the practice. Since poaching is the reason that some species are going extinct, it is important that this problem gets solved quick.
Some ways that we can stop poaching is to put out police to stop the poachers and to increase the rate of production of those animals throughout the ecosystem that they live in and to decrease the amount of poachers by the solution above.i would literally go out to combat and help the animals to thrive and drive out the poachers and we would hole the animals that were poached or are being capable of being poached in a sanctuary for safe keeping.I would own a animal product through the method of poaching because I just see poaching as wrong but its the same as killing animals for food so I wouldn't really mind it.
Poaching is such a large problem with endangered animals. Methods such as instituting policing programs and laws that would punish those who decide to poach animals. There should be more intense punishment for those who do this as well. Companies around the world that use products that come from poaching. If we don’t solve this problem then species around the world that are already low in numbers will soon disappear. It is very important to the ecosystems and environments that these animals exist in.
Poaching is such a weird problem to solve, as most of the animals being poached are those we are trying to leave alone in their natural state. But due to some people’s ignorance we are going to be forced into to tampering with these animal’s habitats in order to stop these poachers. Catching them isn’t going to be easy either, and even if we catch them in the act odds are we aren’t catching the real poachers. Those guys are in the organized crime business much like the mafia, and almost always have some all powerful people at the top making the dough while low level poachers are actually out killing the animals. This is why it is going to be so difficult to actually get rid of poaching.
We have proven ourselves to be far more selfish than any other species. Due to the fact that there are so many benefits to poaching a certain species, we start to overcome the sense of wrong in doing so. Considering the concept of the tragedy of the commons, we can understand why poaching is so prominent and such a detriment. If we were all regulated to a sustainable amount of hunting, these species would be unlikely to face the issues they face today. Humans compete amongst each other for wealth, causing them to have a far larger greed than what is sustainable.
The fact that humans are more concerned about market value and economic gain than an animal’s existence is rather disturbing. Regulations and further enforcement are, of course, crucial to solving such detrimental greed. However, humans need to shift our perspective and start viewing other species with intrinsic value. Humans are not superior to nature, and we need to stop acting in that manner.
What are some potential solutions to poaching?
What would you do to combat the effects of poaching on the environment?
Would you ever own an animal product that was obtained through the method of poaching?
I feel like we can have more government regulations to restrict poaching as a solution to the problem. I can help solve the issue by petitioning for laws to be created or followed. Yes, because the animal was already killed and to not use the product would be to waste it so yes.
Since poaching is already an illegal act, it’s hard to fight it. No matter how many government laws and regulations are passed, they won’t stop poaching. In fact, they can actually increase poaching since the prices of the materials gained by poaching would increase, causing more people to poach. Enforcing current laws is currently the only thing that we can do at the moment to reduce poaching. As long as there is a demand for certain materials, such as ivory, poaching is going to continue, but with stricter enforcement, we can reduce the amount of animals poached.
A way to stop poaching is to have serious consequences for violators of the law. There are already regulations on what one can and can't hunt, so placing more regulations seems pointless because people already know its wrong. I don’t think that the government should have people watching the animals because that defeats the whole purpose of leaving the animals alone. I could help spread awareness on how poaching affects the environment, and why people shouldn’t. I would not own an animal product that was obtained through poaching if I could help it.
I don’t even know what poaching is, after I have seen this blog. Poaching seems like a terrible problem that should be solved. An important solution to solve this issue is government regulations. These regulations will reduce poaching to endangered animals, and the high fines that are associated. I won’t never own an animal product that contains this method because it could endanger the animal or even my pet. Today, we should make sure to contain this issue and help decrease the use of this method.
People don't think of the bigger picture; they don't see the major consequences that result, they only see the money they get in return. Poaching had been a serious problem throughout the years. More and more poachers are hunting animals to the point of them becoming endangered, which could overall disrupt the flow of an ecosystem. Even though there have been laws passed that have tried to stop poaching, it really won't stop.
One way to solve the poaching issue is with more government regulations. If the government was to get more involved by instituting heavy fines and extensively regualting and monitoring the amount of hunting going on, the amount of poaching would decrease. As for the animals already affected by poaching, people could help nurse the species out of the endangered list by protecting the few left and then releasing them back into the environment.
Poaching is a very big problem in todays society. I feel like the government needs to step in and enforce poaching laws more strictly, or else, the environment will be damaged. I wouldn’t buy a product that has come from poaching so that poachers will be discouraged.
I agree that poaching is becoming an increasingly larger problem in today's society. I think the best way to combat the issue is to increase the regulation by the government, specifically by increasing the fines. Poachers are financially motivated, so by implementing heavy fines, they will be disincentivized to continue breaking the law.
Some solutions to poaching would be to make it illegal and set laws to minimize this act. The best way to combat the effects of poaching, would be to regulate it. I would never own any animal product anyways, regardless of poaching, due to the ethical sides of things.
We could try to limit poaching by regulating it and putting larger fines on the people that poach animals. We need to stop people from poaching endangered species and we need the government to implement laws against it. Its horrible that some of the items that we have in our everyday life were achieved in such a horrible way.
Poaching is a very big issue as it limits biodiversity, we should pass laws to prevent poaching with huge fines that are larger than the actual cost of each animal on the market. Then, we remove the profit of poaching in the first place and if it is done more than once we double the fines.
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