User:EJ Novak/sandbox

Wild life health is one of the most overlooked issues in society today. It all starts with people mistreating and performing unmoral actions that severely effect specific species at a time. However, as time goes on, many organizations are working to not only voice the importance of wildlife health, put placing more guidelines for a common person of society to follow. Societies like the Wildlife Conservation Society, World Organization of Animal Health, and Native American Fish and Wildlife Society are just a few major societies working to improve our ecosystem through protecting the living organisms in it. One of the major problems that continues to arise in wildlife is the amount of diseases coming into light. Major diseases include anthrax, rabies, other foot and mouth diseases, along with types of pox are running rapid through populations and scientists are working restlessly to find ways to fight these diseases. Some scientists believe that working on vaccines for these diseases is the best way to fight against wildlife diseases, however, some authors think that it would be unmoral to focus so much time on wildlife diseases when there are many diseases still crippling humans today. However, some vaccines have been proven to be productive. For example, in cases of rabies, the oral rabies vaccine has been used successfully in multiple different countries, helping to control the spread across populations and even to humans. Another disease that has been proven to be susceptible to vaccines is the bovine tuberculosis, through vaccinating animals from raccoons to possums. The introduction of the COVID-19 epidemic that rushed across the world opened the eyes of many scientists when it came to the new technology of vaccines. Scientists started to trust vaccines for wildlife more, leading to preventing disease transportation. However, the health of these animals doesn't stop at diseases. Another major contribution to the decline in the animal population is through illegal hunting and poaching across the states. Many species have come to almost extinct from the overhunting in certain ecosystems, resulting in certain organizations placing more strict laws when it comes to hunting and fishing. Organizations like The Humane Society of the United States, The International Anti-Poaching Foundation, The Born Free Foundation, and many more have made commitments to solely focus on this problem and try and reverse damage already done. These organizations coming out and announcing there focus on this issue led to the government creating laws like the False Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and Dodd-Frank Act that can be applied to crimes concerning wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, and illegal fishing across the country. The NWC's Global Wildlife Whistleblower Program is working specifically on crafting laws to protect against illegal animal trade across countries, along with poaching in America and Africa. Wildlife Officers across the country are now instructed to attentively watch for poaching or illegal activity in their assigned designated areas. Another thing that affects these animals just as much as illegal poaching or diseases is the habitat destruction occurring in many ecosystems across the country. When these habitats are destroyed it leads to these populations splitting into different smaller populations, where there is now more competition and less resources available. Things like urbanization and agriculture expansions are just some of the ways we greatly effect the lives of these organisms. The whole idea is that smaller habitats support less organisms, decreasing the population. When there are smaller populations, it leads to a higher chance of extinction. Deforestation fits hand and hand with habitat destruction, through illegal logging or other human induced destruction. Not only does deforestation lead to less environment for these animals to live and be supported in, but it also increases climate change and global warming across the globe. Policies like the Wilderness Act of 1964, which designated specific areas to be protected from logging and destruction, help to provide specific ecosystems for these struggling populations. This however, still leads to certain ecosystems losing their environment and resources required to survive. All together, the fight for Wildlife Health is an ongoing struggle, and the more people that know and do the little things to support the other species on this planet, then the better life in the future will be for everyone. References: