Happy World Wildlife Day!
The last few years have been flooded with alarming news about wildlife extinction. Without turning our eyes away from this ongoing crisis, we want to dedicate this post to shining light on some of the most remarkable successes in wildlife conservation over the past years:
1. The Amboseli region, victim to hundreds of elephant deaths between 2008 and 2018 due to the ivory hunt, has finally met the perfect poaching statistic: 2019 saw ZERO confirmed cases in Big Life’s area of operation.
2. Due to conservation efforts, the population of mountain gorillas has reached 1004, down-listing them from ‘critically endangered’ to ‘endangered’ last year.
3. There has been a true medical breakthrough to save the northern white rhino! Two embryos have been recreated using the eggs of the last 2 remaining northern white rhino females.
4. Tigers’ gradual disappearance has finally been reversed! Research indicates there are around 700 tigers more than there were in 2010 (now a total of around 3900), vastly due to Nepal and India’s efforts to increase the tiger population.
To that we cheer! While these species and many more still face a major risk of extinction, it is important to keep in mind that human action can, and does, make a difference.
To wildlife!