Target: Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States
Goal: Fund wildlife reintroduction programs to restore ecosystems.
The reintroduction of certain species of mammals—including gazelles, tigers, European bison, jaguars, and hippopotamuses—to their formal habitats could have restorative effects on entire ecosystems. In addition to promoting regional biodiversity, this process could help stabilize global climates by encouraging the storage of greater carbon surpluses.
Reintroduction has proven successful in the past. Take, for example, the human aided return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park. Not only did this process help restore populations of the once endangered gray wolves, but it also refurbished entire ecosystems. Vital vegetation was brought back, songbirds, eagles, fox, and badgers returned to the landscape, and populations of elk, deer, and other prey species were stabilized. Even the rivers were impacted. In other words; the entire ecosystem was transformed.
In the midst of what scientists call “the sixth great extinction,” the time is now to take steps towards solving the biodiversity and climate change catastrophes. Sign this petition to demand government funding for wildlife reintroduction programs.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear President Biden,
In 1995, a total of 31 wolves were reintroduced to their former habitat in Yellowstone National Park after having greatly disappeared in the face of excessive hunting and agricultural development. The results of this endeavor were an entire ecosystem revitalized and restored—a trophic cascade of ecological change. Animals like songbirds, eagles, fox, salmon, and badgers returned to the landscape, the populations of prey species like elk and deer were stabilized, and new trees and plants sprouted in the absence of grazing prey. Even the rivers changed in the presence of the wolves.
Reintroduction works. And, yet, it is still an under appreciated method of habitat management. Reintroducing certain species—such as gazelles, wolverines, pampas deer, tigers, European bison, jaguars, and hippopotamuses—to their former habitats is likely to have restorative effects on regional biodiversity, as well as increased carbon storage.
We are asking you, Mr. Biden, to increase federal funding for these types of programs, and let nature take its course in solving global biodiversity loss and climate change.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: National Parks Gallery
These programs can work, but protection for those key species is also important. Animals don’t stay in one place. Take the case of the wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park. It is a great success, but an entire pack has been killed when they left the refuge of the park and crossed into a State where human hunters waited for them. Some States even allow killing pups in their dens. This is slaughter, not hunting. Until the problem of hunting top predators is solved, there will be set-backs. I hope that these issues can be solved and that the program of reintroduction is successful.
Very well said.
Humans have encroached on animal habitats so much, the poor animals are the ones suffering. Then there’s the cowardly hunters who are waiting to murder them.