Rochonna Shaw
November 19, 2014 Every species, huge or small, must learn to co-exist. Otherwise, there will be imbalance in the ecosystem. Human beings, as earth’s most advanced and sentient beings, have a responsibility to protect the other species and ecology or atleast not to do anything that may jeopardize their safety. Clearly, most of the human race thinks that they must secure their niche first and then, if convenient and possible, think about the world. I, certainly, do not disagree that human needs for farmland, housing and industry are more important than saving land for endangered animals. The reasons as to why i think so, are explored below. To begin, all the animals that are on the endangered list today, are nearing extinction due to our activities. One may ask, how is that possible. We encroach on their lands, cut down trees and leave them without home and without means to feed themselves. We cannot have this planet just for ourselves, every member on this earth has got rights and as the planet’s most intelligent beings, we have the responsibility to advocate and protect their rights. It is our ethical responsibility. For instance, in the city of Bhoal, India, there was a huge leak of methyl isocyanate gas into the atmosphere in the year of 1984. This lead to the death of thousands of people overnight. Not only this, the spread of the gas was so wide, that an entire species of deer nearly got entirely extinct. This animal had its home in the forests bordering the city of Bhopal and is among one of the many species on the Endangered Animals List that the government made. As the city grew, more of the forestland was cut and new industries were built. Among these new industries was Union Carbide that was responsible for the gas leak. Since Indian Politicians had huge stake in the company, the officials were let off easily by just paying a meagre sum of 1000 rupees to the families of the victims who died. No attention was paid to the species of deer that got hit the most. This event highlights that animals need their land untouched by human activity and it is our ethical responsibility to ensure this. Second reason is that we humans are taking up too much space. Every day there are
