Poaching in Africa free essay sample

The verb poaching, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is defined as, [to] illegally hunt or catch (game or fish) on land that is not ones own or in contravention of official protection. While this definition is quite solid, it does not convey the true atrocities that happen during poaching is or why people poach, though both are necessary understand what makes poaching so bad for the environment and dangerous to the human species in general. Poaching is a barbaric, dangerous, and illegal act which should have more public attention and should be fought more gainst. One of the two major reasons people poach is for food. Hunting for food in of itself does not lead to poaching; as in many regions around the world, such as the US, allow people to hunt traditional foods, deer and rabbits being a good example. However in the many nations of Africa bushmeat, meat which was traditionally hunted in the wilds otherwise known as the bush of Africa, has spread into a massive trade. We will write a custom essay sample on Poaching in Africa or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Although the hunting of bushmeat itself is not illegal many animals that make up traditional bushmeat are primates, who are losing their homes due to he deforestation of Africas Jungles, and therefore are on the endangered species list. And although hunting of many primates, who in recent times have been accepted as very intelligent creatures, is illegal they are extremely vulnerable to bushmeat hunters because it is very hard to simply stop people from hunting their traditional foods. One study in Cameroon showed that among the poor families bushmeat made up 20% of the meat they ate (Lerner). Growing African cities also play a role in the distribution of the bushmeat, because the more they grow the loser they get to rainforests and now poachers have a larger market to sell to. Finally when logging companies are hired to clear space for roads to be built, companies encourage employees to kill the local wild life for food, rather than have to deal with the logistics sending food to the logging camps (Lerner). These logging camps often serve a role in the hunting of bushmeat by sending the meat back to officials in the company who can sell it on the worldwide black market. However, with the ease of hunting of bushmeat in Africa, the illegal trade is on he upswing and does not only affect Africa, but Europe and many parts of Asia as well. Getting bushmeat into Europe is often achieved through smuggling the bushmeat in. However in many parts of Asia bushmeat although illegal, is less often checked for and more easily snuck in than in Europe, however that does not imply that bushmeat rarely gets into European nations. In fact according to studies, roughly five tons of bushmeat is snuck into Paris through its main airport, Roissy- Charles de Gualle airport, on a weekly basis (Lerner). To top it off the five tons represent a single airport in a single European city This implies hundreds ot tons ot bushmeat is snuck into Europe weekly, and assuming an equal amount or greater is shipped to Asian nations, that would bring the weekly smuggling amounts of bushmeat out of Africa to a minimum of roughly eight hundred tons. And then you add to the native African population of who, as previously noted, often eat bushmeat you have a number of tons that one can only speculate at perhaps, it could reach 5,000 tons for all we know. And when one asks, how could some many animals be illegally poached and hunted that these ridiculously large numbers of lack market bushmeat to exist? The answer no one truly knows because the protection on the wildlife in Africa is almost nonexistent. The second reason why people poach is for money. Often times the poaching is done for the fur of an animal or other parts of its body that will either not grow back, or be harvested easily, such as ivory and claws. This kind of poaching is the most familiar kind to westerners and has been commended by many nations around the world. Governments even give money to other nations to assure that the animals that are targeted get proper protection. Many nations in Africa have accepted the money to protect their endangered species and species which are often poached, however in recent times elephant and rhino poaching has increased (Department of Environmental Affairs Republic of South Africa). The reason for the increased poaching is twofold. The first reason is due to the demand of ivory on the black market in nations such as China. This is a serious problem because China is a major investor in Africa and could easily end most of the poaching which is taking place there, but does nothing to stop it (Elephant Slaughter: Editorial). The reason why is not clear, but it is assumed that it is because Chinas leaders do not want to fess up to the amount of animals they caused to die. The second reason for increased poaching is that Africa is warlords. Warlords in Africa in order to fund their armies, poach elephants, take their ivory and sell it on the black market (which eventually makes its way to China). The warlords have the equipment the murder of elephants and can easily overpower the rangers who protect the wildlife preserves and still make enough money to continue their acts of terror on the humans of the area. However the way in which the poaching done is equally as disturbing to the crimes the armies commit against people. There are stories of how entire herds of elephants were slaughted from the sky by military helicopters, their tusks cut out, and their bodies left to rot (Elephant Slaughter: Editorial). These wrongs cant be allowed to be continued. There are many reasons why poaching should be discontinued, however when the reasons are broken down you have four general categories. The first reason people should stop poaching is because of biodiversity. The world is a beautiful and its life is uite diverse, however due to many environmental factors and human factors the world is becoming less and less diverse. One such human factor is poaching. The second reason people should quit poaching is that it ruins the natural course of evolution. The logic behind this is that the poachers dont hunt the weakest wolves or the chinchillas with an odd color fur, poachers only hunt the finest creatures of a species and when they do it allows the weakest to survive. Although nothing sounds wrong with this with a casual observation when looked at in depth it makes sense. For example due to elephant poaching over the last century, the amount of elephants without tusks has increased from 2% of the total population to 38%. Although this may sound great because now those elephants wont be poached, it is a false hope because elephants without tusks are missing the tools used for digging for water and roots, foraging, and competing for a mate. So, not only do the tusk-less elephants die of dehydration and starvation, they also do not mate as often. The third reason for stopping poaching is that African warlords make money and supply their troops hrough poaching. If wildlife preserves were better protected, and the park rangers given better equipment to protect them, warlords would be crippled financially and stopped easier. Finally due to the hunt of bushmeat and the close contact that occurs when a person is exposing a primates bodily fluids, while either gutting them, eating them, skinning them, or encountering any liquids from the primates bodies, may cause a new viral infection that can cross from their species to ours (Alic). This is incredibly dangerous and totally possible, because the virus that causes AIDS and the SARS outbreak were caused by human interaction with chimpanzees and bats, respectively (Lerner). This is even more dangerous because the longer the logging crews stay in the Jungle the more surrounded they are by new viruses and bacteria, and the higher the chance that the viruses mutate and affect humans. In summary due to poaching a viral disease can spread that could cripple the human race. Poaching is a wrong, brutish, and simply cruel act. It is the funding behind many a African warlord, the destruction of the bio-diversity of the planet, and the cause of a otential virus which can severely cripple the human race. However, even with all these reasons to stop, poaching still continues. Poaching is a complex problem and cannot be solved simply, but there are three steps which can be taken to stop poaching. The first involves giving food to the hungry, so they wont have to poach or buy bushmeat from poachers. The second regards the forcing logging companies to figure out the logistics to send food to men in logging camps. The third and final way to end poaching is by putting higher security on nature reserves, and equipping the angers with the proper tools to defend against warlords and their armies.