As I was driving back to my home today I was surprised and thrilled to see a tiny mouse crossing the side of my road where vehicles of varied sizes were scrambling for space at considerable speed. It was a six lane road and I don't know how the tiny mouse could cross the other side without endangering her life and may be providence on its side, as it escaped many a wheels before entering into the wilderness. Here the mouse was lucky today and I do not know if the same luck would smile on the tiny tail yet again. What if the biological mouse dies , all of us are always with an e-mouse.
The area I talk about is a big suburban area. But the millions of kilometers of roads, rail roads, water ways and even in the skies... and millions of vehicles/crafts that are on the move at any given moment keep crushing thousands of our fellow creatures and move ahead without any remorse. The infrastructure and the super structures we create are simply death traps for those innocent creatures. But these monstrous machines kill humans too at incredible numbers. The fatal score in India alone is 1,50,000 per year. A human life is lost on Indian roads every three minutes. And 5 times of that number become physically challenged due to amputations or other problems related to the injuries. Apart from the small animals like dogs and cats, big animals like the elephants,tigers,lions and camels too get hurt and die in large numbers. But the biggest threat to our wild life is from poaching. 20,000 elephants were killed for their tusks in 2012 and another 20,000 in 2013. All for the ivory and nothing else. How long the poaching will be there? As long as the last elephant survives! Read the news story from WWF.
Secure when protected
Elephant populations across Africa are faring differently, with some remaining endangered and others now secure. Southern Africa is the stronghold for the species, with large and expanding populations.
Significant elephant populations are nevertheless confined to well-protected areas, which form only a fraction of total elephant range.
The species remains threatened by illegal hunting for meat and ivory, habitat loss and human-elephant conflict. Most range states do not have adequate capacity to protect and manage their herds. If conservation action is not forthcoming, elephants may become locally extinct in some parts of Africa within 50 years.
Significant elephant populations are nevertheless confined to well-protected areas, which form only a fraction of total elephant range.
The species remains threatened by illegal hunting for meat and ivory, habitat loss and human-elephant conflict. Most range states do not have adequate capacity to protect and manage their herds. If conservation action is not forthcoming, elephants may become locally extinct in some parts of Africa within 50 years.
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| © WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY |
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