World Wildlife Day
Today is World Wildlife Day.
While we keep up the fight to protect nature and its wildlife, a staggering statistic tells the story.
Since the year 1970, the human population has increased by 117% while the wildlife around the world has declined by 69%.
Even though the last decades have seen an increase in protected land around the world, the word "protected" deserves air quotes as most of these protected lands are open to hunting, and perhaps more importantly, these protected lands are so small and scattered that most wildlife is unable to live its life inside an area as their territories bring them outside.
Here's a bull moose munching on vegetation inside the safety of Grand Teton National Park. If he walks a few hundred yards to the east, he becomes a hunting target on National Forest land. A few miles to the south and he enters a National Wildlife Refuge which, as one could expect based on the "refuge" portion of the name, is also open to hunting, albeit not moose but elk, bison, pronghorn and white-tailed deer.
Long story short: the planet and its wildlife are in trouble.
