The Disappearing Kingdoms

Every continent contains animals under threat. Protecting them begins with awareness of the potential loss, suggests Glenis Lindley.

It may be that soon, if you want to see the “king of beasts,” you’ll have to visit a zoo. Recent reports place the lion under the threat of extinction. In Africa, predator numbers in general are plummeting as farmers attempt to protect their herds and flocks from carnivores, whose habitat is shrinking. Using guns and poisons— ruthlessly efficient replacements for spears, shields and primitive traps—farmers and poachers are decimating wildlife. Rapid population growth in Africa is also demanding more living space, spreading farms and settlement onto the savannah, the lion’s natural habitat.

The threat to wildlife is universal, but especially so for the big cats. The tigers of most Asian countries, which once roamed from India to Sumatra and Siberia, also face extinction, despite being skilful hunters themselves.

In the past, tigers were hunted to the point of extinction in many places. In India, Bengal tiger hunting was the sport of the rich, who rode on elephants and shot these unfortunate creatures rounded up by servants, to claim a prized trophy for their wall or floor.

Tigers are now protected by law, but poaching continues for skins and for other body parts. These are often used in traditional Chinese medicines, some valued as aphrodisiacs. ZooBooks estimates that there are more tigers in zoos, wilderness preserves and game parks, than free in the wild.The National Geographic Society estimates there were more than 100,000 wild tigers at the beginning of the 20th century. Today only around 5000 exist.

In 2002, after reading a travel brochure that implored me to “explore untouched jungle and caves, trek through rainforest terrain, stay in tree houses and remote floating raft houses, perhaps see a tiger in the wild,” my husband and I, with a small group of fellow adventurers to southern Thailand, set out on a mission to track down a tiger!

Deep down, I have to admit, I didn’t for one moment expect to see a tiger slinking through virgin jungle, but it became a fantasy expectation. The extensive Thai National Park, home of some of Thailand’s best remaining rainforests, spectacular limestone mountains, picturesque lakes, streams and waterfalls, was our first destination. We travelled by longboats, stayed on a lake surrounded by dense jungle, heard the hooting of gibbons and set out daily, just on dusk, seeking a stray tiger. Each day we returned home, mission unaccomplished.

We then relocated to tree-house lodges, perched high above walking tracks, the perfect territory for any self-respecting tiger. Why else would we sleep in treetops, if not to escape ferocious tigers? We shared our rough accommodation with geckos, a scorpion behind the toilet and a snake that slithered down our steps—but no tigers. Elephant trekking during the day, through thick jungle with a canopy of bamboo, vines and tall trees, also failed to locate a tiger. When darkness fell we embarked upon a “night jungle safari,” bravely armed with torches. The contrasting stillness and sounds of the night and darkness of the jungle made a lasting impression, but no lurking tigers were to be seen! In fact, the only sign of life were some fireflies attracted to our torches.

Each morning playful monkeys visited the lodges, swinging from tree branches across the stream and I wondered if tigers had once called this idyllic setting home, before the invasion of tourists.

Our search for an elusive tiger continued through rubber plantations, steamy jungles, uninhabited islands visited on our sea safaris, and tranquil “lost world” areas of tropical Thailand.

With the exception of a few tame elephants, gibbons and birds, there were no wild creatures at all, let alone tigers.

The holiday ended, and back in the city again, I did see a tiger, but I had to visit Dreamworld’s Tiger Island, on the Gold Coast. For most of us, it’s as close as we’ll come to seeing one of these big, cuddly cats.

On a recent trip to Bangkok, the sight of domesticated elephants saddened me with their owners (mahouts), slowly trudging through the centre of Bangkok city, trunks extended, begging for money or food. Elsewhere these intelligent creatures are reduced to raiding rubbish dumps, scavenging through plastic bags and garbage, searching for food.

Unfortunately, elephants aren’t always as docile and placid as they appear, and because of their enormous size, they pose a threat to people when driven by starvation or self-preservation. Rampaging elephants in India, home to Asia’s largest wild elephant population, kill around 200 people each year, as well as destroying village huts and complete crops, reports National Wildlife magazine.

A local newspaper reported an incident in which a train killed a baby elephant that had wandered onto the railway line. When the train stopped, the mother elephant attacked the train, attempting to upturn carriages and trample terrified passengers.

Poachers are killing elephants for their ivory, despite prohibitions on its sale, and even their feet are made into stools and tables. Today, especially in Asia, there is an enormous conflict between humans and elephants as they fight over space and food. An adult elephant can crunch and munch through around 230 kg of leaves, grass, fruit, bark, trees and roots per day and gulps down more than 130 litres of water. Ironically, in countries like Thailand and Myanmar, working elephants help loggers haul felled trees from the very forests upon which their survival depends.

Problems also occur in North America, with bears entering houses and buildings looking for food, but bears face other atrocities in China with bear bile and gall bladders in demand for use in Chinese medicine. The cruelty inflicted on these unfortunate caged bears as they are surgically mutilated often causes their death, reports the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

It seems the creatures of the wild have always been on the receiving end of human irresponsibility, cruelty, vigorous persecution and greed.
But more recently, thinking individuals are becoming aware of the demise of wildlife—the giant pandas, gorillas and other primates, cats and rhino—a list that grows alarmingly longer each year.

Conservation and rehabilitation efforts are being made. It’s hard to imagine living in a world without the wonders of graceful cheetahs, magnificent deer, big bears, birds, massive whales and even sharks.

In the beginning, when God created every form of living creature, in His wisdom He said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” He also said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth” (Genesis 1:22, 26). So God created humans—“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish . . . birds . . . every living creature” (verse 28).

But does such a universal injunction give us humans the right to kill God’s other creatures to extinction? Does it give us the right to take more and more of the land upon which the few animal survivors depend for existence? As more and more creatures become vulnerable and teeter on the brink of extinction, as nature’s caretakers, we now have the obligation not to subdue, but to protect them.

Because of humankind’s mismanagement—shrinking forests, erosion, disappearing wetlands, rivers running dry, rising temperatures, urban air pollution, coral reefs dying and the like—some environmental problems are effectively irreversible and no amount of wishing will bring back extinct species.
Somehow man and beast have to coexist. That may not always be comfortable for us humans, but it’s our only choice.

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