Climate Change is not the Greatest Threat to Wildlife

 

The main threats today to the survival of orangutans  :

• Loss of habitat through deforestation

• Palm oil plantations

• Illegal hunting

• Illegal pet trade

At this rate of loss, many experts believe orangutans could be extinct in the wild in less than 50 years.

From the Orangutan Conservatory

As you know, the vaquita is on the edge of extinction and, unless action is taken now, the species will be lost within a few months or years during your administration. No more than 22 vaquitas remained alive during the summer of 2018, prior to the current fishing season. Each year, half of the remaining vaquitas are killed in illegal fishing nets set for another endangered species, the totoaba. Poachers prize totoaba for their swim bladders, which are dried and smuggled by organized crime cartels to China, where they are sold on the black market for prices that can reach $46,000 USD per kg. The acoustic monitoring program indicates that the few remaining vaquitas inhabit a very small area, approximately 24 x 12 km, most of which lies within the Vaquita Refuge. However, high levels of illegal fishing for totoaba occur in this area.

Report from Southwest Fisheries Science Center(SWFSC)  

Climate change is used as cover by the global trade industry to justify their destruction of wildlife.  Whilst environmentalists were crying about carbon emissions, the global trade industry quietly went about their business of wiping out endangered wildlife.