Running Head: Endangered Animals 1

Endangered Animals

Paige M. Brown

Swan Valley High School

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Endangered Animals

We see animals every day of our lives. We see them at the zoo. We see them outside.

Each day more and more animals are put on the list of endangered animals. On the endangered

list there is more than one level. There are many reasons why animals are put on the list but the

main reason is mankind. With that being said the animal kingdom can be thrown out of balance.

Animals are hunted down because of what humans want from them. By explaining the levels of

the endangered animals, what humans have done, and how different animals have become

endangered.

Endangered species are very broad in general. On the endangered list there are eight

categories; least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct

in the wild, extinct, and data deficient (What does 'endangered species' mean?, n.d.). Every

animal falls into one of the categories. Each animal is taken a count for every year to see where

they fall. Without this, we would have a lot more animals in the higher categories. Laws also

keep the safety of the animals on the higher up categories.

Before laws were put in place about endangered animals, humans would hunt with no

regard for how it would affect the way of life. Humans would hunt animals for parts on them.

African elephants are one of these animals. African elephants have a ban on them. Even though

there is a ban on them they are still hunted down in tens of thousands, just for their ivory tusks.

“The ban was put in place in 1989. So the ban is still in place for almost thirty years now. The

elephants are still being killed. There is a region where the elephants are protected, but there are

still places outside that where elephants live” (Threats to African elephants, n.d.).
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That same ban is still up in affected today. There are many more bans on each animal

some have more than others.

Without certain animals, humans could die. “In Africa, they would use rats to find land

mines. Since they are small and don’t weigh enough to set them off. Rats have a great sense of

smell like man's best friends” (Phair, 2018). Without the rats to help out the people of Africa

would have to use dogs to find the land mines, but there is a problem with that dogs could set

them off. The dog could step on one because of how big they are and blow the people with them.

“In the UK, they would use dogs to sniff out endangered animals and plants” (Phair, 2018). The

dogs help the UK keep track of where the animals or plant falls on the endangered list. Without

dogs we would not just lose the help of finding endangered animals or plants, we would lose

support dogs of all kinds.

Water touches land and makes up two- thirds of the world. Without the animals, in the

oceans, we can lose a lot of land animals that rely on marine animals. Marine life is being killed

off with different types of pollution, oil spills, and overfishing. Take a look at appendix B to see

what plastic can do to the oceans. “According to the United Nations, at least 800 species

worldwide are affected by marine debris, and as much as 80 percent of that litter is plastic. It is

estimated that up to 13 million metric tons of plastic ends up in the ocean each year—the

equivalent of a rubbish or garbage truck load’s worth every minute” (Reddy, 2018). With that

being said we should start to reuse anything we can. We can useable bags at the grocery store

and not the plastic bags. If we don’t slow down our plastic use the ocean will be overtaken by

plastic and ocean life will not be there anymore.

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My project is volunteering at the Saginaw Children's Zoo. The zoo teaches the visitors

about each animal. The program I was part of is called Zoo Crew. Zoo Crew has two leaves to

speak of, they have the regular Zoo Crew and then we have the Zoo Crew Leaders. Zoo Crew

Leaders have to have at least one year of Zoo Crew under their belts. Zoo Crew Leaders are

reasonable when Emily or Jordan is not there of the Zoo Crew for that day. Zoo Crew Leaders

are the only ones that are allowed to care around a radio. The Zoo Crew helps the works at the

goat yard or the kangaroo walkabout, hand out hay to the visitors, paint the visitors' faces, and

pull weeds. Last year we had a station that had children pick out plastic out of the water, Zoo

Crew had a fun time doing each station. My coworker Emily took a photo of a Zoo Crew

working at one of the stations look at appendix A. I have been part of Zoo Crew for four years

now. I have chosen to be a Zoo Crew Leader for two years now. It is a lot of hard work to make

sure everyone is doing what they have to be doing.

Each year the endangered animal list grows but it also shrinks. Animals are being killed

directly by human or indirectly, either we kill them with weapons or kill them by plastic.
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Appendix

Appendix A

(Emily, n.d.).

Appendix B
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(Caraiman, 2018)

References

Phair, C. (2018, January 15). Animals That Help Save the Planet. Retrieved from

https://blog.pachamama.org/animals-that-help-save-the-planet

Reddy, S. (2018, September 24). Plastic Pollution Affects Sea Life Throughout the Ocean.

Retrieved from

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/09/24/plastic-pollution-

affects-sea-life-throughout-the-ocean

Threats to African elephants. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/elephants/african_elephants/a

felephants_threats/

What does 'endangered species' mean? (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/what-does-endangered-species-mean