Dangers Brought to Animals by Man: Research and Reflection

DANGERS BROUGHT TO ANIMALS BY MAN: RESEARCH AND REFLECTIONNameCourse Code/titleDate
Dangers Brought to Animals by Man: Research and Reflection
Animals all over the world, whether domestic or wild, face great danger of extinction and survival. Human beings rule the earth and have the ultimate power to control all resources. However, this greatly undermines the ability of other animals to live and coexist peacefully as men exploit them for food, prestige and other social and economic purposes. Researching this phenomena provides various information of the challenges animals’ face, while enabling an inclusive group effort in seeking for the solution.
Reflections on Research
There are many studies done to assess the level of damage that human beings have imposed on the environment. Marine animals and land animals alike continue to face the brunt of our actions, as their habitats continue to shrink even more. Since time immemorial, people all over the world have inflicted several degree of abuse on animals either through exploitation, for leisure and as domestic animals. In the ancient Rome, animals were a major part of the circus where the entertainers would kill many of them as a form of entertainment for the locals. Although many can vehemently condemn their actions, the current rate at which people slaughter and kill animals for food and recreation is alarming. Men capture and consume more than 90 billion fish every year, while other animals may serve other purposes such as religious, art, recreation, philosophy, science, literature, and culture.[Tiplady, 2013.Animal abuse: Helping animals and people. CABI, 2013.Pp. 8.] [Ibid, Pp. 8]
The main danger that marine animals face is overfishing and over exploitation. Since the oceans and lakes cover up to 75% of the total earth’s surface, the oceans forms a great alternative as a source of food and livelihood. Most of the countries that border major oceans carry out massive fishing expeditions for the main purpose of exportation. Most of the world’s finfish resources are at the extreme limits of sustaining the population, while more than 28% of them are overexploited. With the limiting number of finfish all over the world, attention has shifted to invertebrates and other smaller sea creatures that people depend on for food. Animals such as shrimps, crabs, sea cucumbers and lobsters face extreme risk of overexploitation and extinction. There is no clear guideline on the fishing patterns that countries ought to adopt, with each country left with the jurisdiction to channel their own energy in ensuring they have a sustainable fishing stocks for the next generation.[Purcell et al."Sea cucumber fisheries: global analysis of stocks, management measures and drivers of overfishing." 2013. Pp. 35]
The lack of control in the exploitation of natural resources has brought several consequences. People have encroached into forests and lands that were predominantly set aside for wild animals, through farming and settlement. This has led to several conflicts between people and wild animals, with the animals destroying their crops, causing people injuries and even killing some. Destruction of the habitats of world animals has threatened the extinction of many species, with conservationists all over the world working hard to protect some of the most endangered species from extinction. The overexploitation of some sea animals disrupts the food chain and leads to increase in certain species that may not be good for the environment. A study done by Loh et al. in 2015 showed that overfishing of sponge eating fishes such as parrotfish and angel fishes led to the overgrowing of sponges on the Caribbean sea, inhibiting the development of corals. Sea corals support the lives of many other species and their underdevelopment causes untold effects on the ocean ecosystem.
This research revealed that domestic animals such as cats, dogs and cows among others also face abuse and cruelty that affects their lives. Domestic animals face a number of abuses such as neglect, torture, killing when astray, being touched sexually and killed for cultural or religious reasons.Dogs and cats face extreme abuse as some people rarely feed them, do not treat them from diseases and injuries, and leave them to survive in very harsh conditions. Young children reportedly abuse these animals more often. Although these animals may not face extreme cruelty from ...