Just a sad animal question from Zoo Tycoon fans.

[PollyPocketFan79]

Do you think it's only a matter of time before the Vaquita is extinct? To me I'd say yes. Sometimes I do feel like humans are the greediest species and how we lost animals like passenger pigeons, great auks, the Labrador duck, and tons more that we've driven to extinction because of human activities. It's also sad that many animals without help will be as dead as a dinosaur. Sometimes when I think of saving species and their habitats I think of a line from the 1972 Lorax TV Special of "They say I'm old fashioned and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!" It's just no doubt in my mind of the Vaquita becoming extinct.

[HeatherL]

I think you're right. I really hate humans most of the time.

[LapisLazuli77]

I've heard very scant buzz about helping the vaquita, but ultimately it's gotten nowhere. Yeah there's plenty in place to bring back the northern white rhino, but there's just crickets for other similarly imperiled species like the vaquita and, as of a few months ago, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle.

 

But people don't really care about that because wouldn't it be funny if we brought back mammoths lmao

[Fern]

3 hours ago, HeatherL said:

I think you're right. I really hate humans most of the time.

Oh I agree, although I would say dislike rather than hate.

Since mankind seems motivated by ego and greed,  then use those to save animals.

So perhaps for some species the way would be to breed them for food or (don't shoot me for this) controlled trophy hunting. For the food at least they would be breeding them - the best to the best as well. If a percentage "wild release" was added into the breeders license then everyone wins - animals and people. For the trophy hunting which I am not fond of, this country has one good example. We have Tahr here which is endangered in its home country. It is thriving here but considered a pest cos it is damaging the environment and some rare plants that are in the region. We also have no natural predators to control animals here. Rather than eradicate it completely (which some want) its population is controlled by trophy hunting which brings is big money, provides employment and controls the population, while still allowing the animals to live.

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

As a vegan, I would not want the survival effort to be for food or hunting, but I do understand what you are saying Fern.   The planet is not doing very well and I honestly don't think now is the time to start a revival effort of any extinct animal; better to save those projects for a hopefully better time in the future.   I wish that the very rich individuals and corporations could commit more to preserving the endangered animals that are still hanging on.  I've been reading about some very exciting research and methodology to rescue the oceans and cool off the rising temps.  It may just be pipe dreams, but I'm holding on to hope.

 

But yeah, humans, in my opinion, are the worst species. 

[PollyPocketFan79]

With mentioning the Lorax TV special from 1972 earlier I think that it works very well of what's happening right now of "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it's not" and that is a very powerful message and moral. Just another fact is that The Lorax was actually Dr. Seuss himself's favorite of the books he wrote and it's my favorite Dr. Seuss story too. Even animals we commonly see now even they are at risk of extinction like with how at one time the Passenger Pigeon was the most abundant bird in North America and billions were killed every year for food, protecting crops, and controlling their huge population and back in the 1700s and 1800s they thought there we so many that they would never go extinct; again The Onceler from The Lorax that there were so many truffula trees that he'd wouldn't run out of them to make thneeds but The Onceler eventually did. With the passenger pigeon and most gamebirds are relatively slow breeder compared to passerine birds. Let's also not forget about besides overhunting we should also not forget about overfishing and many of the species of we see in supermarkets and restaurants are listed as Near-threatened or under. When I wittness trees getting cut down to make rooms for new establishments, I sometimes wish that The Lorax existed in real life.

[PollyPocketFan79]

On 7/4/2023 at 6:17 PM, LapisLazuli77 said:

I've heard very scant buzz about helping the vaquita, but ultimately it's gotten nowhere. Yeah there's plenty in place to bring back the northern white rhino, but there's just crickets for other similarly imperiled species like the vaquita and, as of a few months ago, the Yangtze giant softshell turtle.

 

But people don't really care about that because wouldn't it be funny if we brought back mammoths lmao

You have a really good point on the mammoth thing of how lots of people think that the extinct Megalodon could possibly avoided extinction and if that was the case I think we would've found them by now. Even with animals of today It's important to appreciate seeing any of the animals we see now (even common and abundant animals like robins or raccoons). I think that people with the Megalodon still thinking it avoided extinction mainly because they think its a cool and terrifying creatures. Fun fact is that most people actually survive encounters with Great White Sharks (or even the other dangerous shark species) because sharks think we're to bony and could confuse a surfer into thinking it's a seal of a tuna or something like that.

[nana_nytowl]

On 7/4/2023 at 9:19 AM, PollyPocketFan79 said:

Do you think it's only a matter of time before the Vaquita is extinct? To me I'd say yes. Sometimes I do feel like humans are the greediest species and how we lost animals like passenger pigeons, great auks, the Labrador duck, and tons more that we've driven to extinction because of human activities. It's also sad that many animals without help will be as dead as a dinosaur. Sometimes when I think of saving species and their habitats I think of a line from the 1972 Lorax TV Special of "They say I'm old fashioned and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!" It's just no doubt in my mind of the Vaquita becoming extinct.

Polly, 

The love I put on your comment was because of the quote from "The Lorax." I love that movie and had (and probably still do) it on a VCR tape. 

 

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

2 hours ago, PollyPocketFan79 said:

Even with animals of today It's important to appreciate seeing any of the animals we see now (even common and abundant animals like robins or raccoons).

This is really important because the most common of creatures is under pressure.  Since I started bird watching and feeding, I have noticed such a marked decline in their numbers.  It's a bit disheartening.