The Causes of Poaching and How to Stop It

Illegally trading drugs and guns on the black market is frowned upon, but people are doing the same thing every single day when poaching wildlife to later sell and trade; nobody turns their head at this act. Poaching has killed 100,000 elephants in the time span of three years, in order to sell ivory. Poachers kill for profit effecting several countries and animal populations including elephants and tigers but not excluding other species; poachers need to be stopped like any other criminal because poaching is affecting globalization and women specifically won’t let this continue.

Globalization has negatively affected the issue of poaching because it is becoming easier to transport the poached animals which affects the environment. The poaching industry bring a large amount of profit into every country involved. The profit then adds to the economy which links back to globalization. Globalization is negatively affecting poaching in this aspect because it is helping the economy which makes the government not want to end it. With such a growing problem around the world, someone has got to take action, and some people have. A man named Mander from Phundundu has gathered a group of women to protect wildlife from poachers. H gathered the women after realizing men were not the right people for the job. The women who are chosen don’t complain about the circumstances because they have already been through hell in some aspect of their lives. The women stay up day and night, finding poachers, then proceed to enter their home and handcuff them when one is found.

Poaching is the killing or imprisonment of animals to gain profit, social status, or prevent animals from killing their livestock. There are three dominant reasons for animals being poached. One reason that poachers kill animals is to sell or trade parts of their bodies. The body parts are then used for food, jewelry, decoration, or medicine. The second reason animals are poached is to keep or sell the animals alive to keep as pets. The last leading reason for poaching consists even of grinding the animals into powders that are known to have healing property. Certain countries in the world are concerning when it comes to poaching because they are “wildlife trade hotspots”. They include parts of China, East Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, the European Union, Mexico, Caribbean, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Solomon Islands. China and Kenya are the main countries contributing to the trade aspect of poaching.

Animal population as well as human populations are both suffering due to poaching. Poaching causes animals to go extinct which then leads to a compromised tourism industry. Countries that depend on profit from tourism are going to suffer from poaching and experience devastation to their economy. It also negatively affects humans because people trying to protest poaching have been shot down by poachers. Poaching is associated with money laundering, and other crimes Poached animals have been known to spread Ebola and SARS. Poaching needs to come to an end in order maintain a balanced environmental ecosystem. Humans are affected by poaching but animals are affected far worse. The animals heavily being affected by poaching are Black Rhinoceros, Sumatran Tiger, American Grey Wolf, and Elephants. To list all of the animals that have been affected, gone endangered, or even extinct; the list could go on and on. Like any other major issue in the world, the first step in ending poaching is educating people on it. After educating people on what poaching is doing to the environment, there need to be strict laws put into place to end poaching. In many countries the punishment for poaching includes imprisonment. This needs to be a worldwide law.

Something must be done soon to stop poaching or animal populations, the economy of many countries, and individual people will continue to suffer. Educating people on why it isn’t worth the profit of poaching to lose much more important things in life, will help poaching to stop being the normal. Globalization has negatively affected poaching, but it is also capable of positively affecting it and making a big change. Working towards every country having enough supplies to live could stop poaching because poor countries won’t feel like the need to use poaching to make money to survive. With the help of strong determined women, education, and stronger laws placed, poaching can be put to an end for once and for all. 

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