National Wildlife Day
National Wildlife Day is observed next on Saturday, February 22nd, 2025 (188 days from today).
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Currently, in the world, there are about 1,556 species of wild animals identified as endangered and near-extinction in need of urgent protection. In the tropical forests, the habitat of more than half of the living things that currently exist on earth is also shrinking, causing many types of wildlife to disappear because their habitats are destroyed. The protection of wildlife in the wild is a very important issue. National Wildlife Day every September 4th is a day to raise awareness about wildlife and promote wildlife conservation activities to balance ecosystems and conserve species. Wild animals are in danger of extinction.
Wildlife protection is one of the urgent issues today. Many animals are on the verge of extinction. Joining hands to protect our ecosystem is something that requires the cooperation of the worldwide community. Why protect wildlife? Here are some of the reasons we give to answer this question.
The role of wildlife protection
The protection of wild animals will help conserve rare genetic resources, not only that, but also help balance the ecosystem, ensuring a sustainable living environment for humans.
According to an estimate of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), there are nearly 1556 rare and precious mammal species in the Red Book that are in danger of extinction or near extinction and need to be protected. However, the protection of wildlife faces many difficulties and needs the cooperation of everyone.
There are nearly a quarter of species on earth that need to live and grow well in tropical forests. However, thousands of hectares of forests are gradually shrinking due to deforestation and forest fires caused by nature and humans, not only that, but also cause many species of animals to become extinct.
The disappearance of many species of wildlife is not only due to the environment, but illegal hunting also causes the number of wild animals to decrease rapidly.
The protection of wildlife plays an extremely important role in ensuring the balance of the ecosystem, increasing the sustainability of the living environment, serving agricultural production and creating conditions for the development of a number of other industries economy.
Some benefits of wildlife protection
Why protect wildlife? Protecting wildlife can bring many benefits to humans. Some of the benefits to mention are:
1. Biodiversity
Currently, on earth there are about 15 million organisms living and developing together. All individuals and species play a certain role in the complex network we call the biosphere. In contrast, the Earth's biosphere is made up of a multitude of ecosystems that include plant and animal species as well as their natural habitats. Protecting wildlife is protecting biodiversity.
There has not been a complete study of the effects of wild animals. But if one ecosystem disappears, the chain reactions on other ecosystems will also be affected, and their extinction can have global consequences.
2. Agricultural benefits
The protection of wildlife is urgent because the benefits they bring to humans are not small. Many animal species have important interests in agriculture. Instead of using pesticides, many insects and animals are used by farmers to kill pests that damage crops. This is one of the safe, effective and low-cost alternatives for farmers.
3. Contribution to medicine
In the process of struggling to survive with nature and many other creatures, some wild animals have found many ways to fight bacteria as well as fight cancer cells. Their bodies can create many new types of particles that scientists have never known before.
Understanding and studying these properties from wild animals can help scientists find new and effective cures. Therefore, the protection of wildlife is also the protection of precious medicinal resources.
In addition, the body of many wild animals contains many useful chemicals, which serve well for the preparation of pharmaceuticals. Many antibiotics, functional foods, pain relievers, anti-cancer agents and hemophilia are now also sourced from wild animals.
As a result, many animals are on the verge of extinction before their medicinal benefits are known.
4. Environmental regulation
Wildlife protection plays an important role in regulating and assessing environmental quality.
For example: The rapid decline in the number of silver-headed eagles and falcons in the mid-20th century was one warning of the dangers of a widely used powerful insecticide, DDT.
The accumulation of this pesticide in the animal's body will impair fertility and hinder the successful incubation of this animal.
These types of animals have the ability to identify the dangers of the environment due to the impact of climate change and pollutants that greatly affect the environment.
5. Economic value
The fact that we join hands to protect wildlife will also bring more or less economic value to people. National parks around the world have been planned to help grow the tourism industry.
According to the statistics of the national park management board of the State of Texas, USA. Bird watching is one of the outdoor recreational activities, bringing in about $ 400 million to the budget each year.
6. Invisible values
In addition to the economic, agricultural, and medical values, the protection of wildlife and many types of animals also brings a lot of inspiration to authors, artists and many people interested in nature wild.
Many stories and films about wildlife are shown and entered into the hearts of many people around the world. Paintings and a series of photo exhibitions of animals have been held all over the world, attracting a lot of public attention.
7. Measures to protect wild animals
Currently, 199 countries around the world have joined and signed the Convention on Biological Diversity to join hands to protect animal species in danger of extinction.
Some of the solutions to help conserve and protect wildlife include:
The fact that some species are in danger of disappearing, is partly due to human hunting. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly handle the leaders of the illegal wildlife trade lines.
Building and conserving endangered animal genetic resources and preserving healthy extragenes for the next 50 years.
Trade in rhino horn and ivory in any form is strictly prohibited.
Preventing criminals from illegally trading animals on the internet.
Strengthen the voice of competent authorities in wildlife protection.
Increased penalties for illegal wildlife trade. Even in the articles https://rusi.org/commentary/wildlife-crime-financial-crime-response-needs-reflect and https://www.rusi.org/commentary/wildlife-crime-financial-crime -response-needs-reflect also proposes to equate wildlife crime with financial crime.
The prevention of hunting and illegal animal trade is essential. In addition, an equally urgent issue is raising people's awareness and understanding of the natural environment in general and the protection of wildlife in particular.
Courses for students, training schools on ecology and biodiversity management will make society more aware of the importance of the surrounding environment. It seems that we are so used to the extremely diverse natural environment that we forget one thing that wildlife also needs to be protected.
The origin of National Wildlife Day
National Wildlife Day was founded in 2005 by pet lifestyle expert and author, Colleen Paige. The reason Colleen Paige created this day is because she wants to honor and conserve wildlife, raise global awareness of the number of endangered wildlife species, and educate global citizens about such as conservation and conservation of wildlife. In addition, she wanted to pay tribute to Steve Irwin, a wildlife conservationist.
Observing National Wildlife Day
To celebrate Global Wildlife Day, you are encouraged to find out information regarding the number of endangered wildlife species, their habitats, and ways to conserve them. On this day, many zoos around the world will also participate in educating people about the wildlife species being preserved in those zoos. Besides, you are also encouraged to join groups that are working day and night to research and discover more endangered wildlife species in the world. And let's join hands to conserve wildlife. Stop all trade in wildlife parts. Speak up when you spot any wildlife trade or hunting. Share your insights on social media with the hashtag #NationalWildlifeDay.
Observed
National Wildlife Day has been observed annually on February 22nd.Dates
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023
Thursday, February 22nd, 2024
Saturday, February 22nd, 2025
Sunday, February 22nd, 2026
Monday, February 22nd, 2027
Founded by
Colleen Paige in 2005