Sustainability is all about finding new ways to protect the plant. You might work towards conserving natural resources or recycling more, but you should also think about how people can help the animal kingdom. Animals survived throughout history without depending on people, but now human pollution, infrastructure, and hunting habits have brought some of these species to approaching extinction. Our job is to ensure we are doing everything in our efforts to bring those animals back from the brink of extinction.
Dozens of animal species disappear from Earth every day. For each species that goes extinct, more become and remain endangered due to habitat loss, poaching, and climate change. These changes are primarily due to either human activities or climate changes. Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and signed into law in December 1973. The act addresses the reality that hundreds of species were going extinct and that human actions attribute to many of the losses. Thanks to the ESA and countless efforts, several species have come back from the threat of extinction. Although animal extinction rates continue to rise, read on to find some of the animals brought back from the brink of extinction.
30. The Amur leopard population has risen from two dozen to 100 in the last decade after facing poaching and encroachment threats.
Did you know that the Amur leopard is one of the world’s most endangered wild cats? They have a thick yellow or rusty orange coat with long, dense hair. They can run up to speeds of 37 miles per hour. Barely holding on in Russia and China, the Amur leopard has an exhaustive list of hazards that has stood in the way of their future and put them on the brink of extinction. Some of the biggest threats that they faced included poaching, deforestation, inbreeding, and industrial encroachment.
By the mid-2000s, their population had fallen to just a few dozen left in the wild. However, collective efforts, including the successful Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance, have helped bring up their numbers. Amur leopards have also successfully bred in captivity. However, that can cause eventual reintroduction problems for predators.