Ayla Reau
TSEA per.3
May 17, 2010
It is a sad day indeed when your children might never see a live polar bear in the Arctic or an orangutan swinging through the forest of Borneo. The only place future generations will have a chance to possibly see these endangered animals will be in pictures and zoos, since we humans are now causing the greatest mass extinction of species since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. In the last two centuries alone the Earth has witnessed world-wide accelerated rates of animal extinction and endangerment, which has taken place alongside industrial progress and rapid human population growth (“Animal Extinction”).

So just what is an endangered animal and why should we care? A broad definition is an endangered animal is a species that is threatened with extinction. The extinction of a species is a catastrophic event that impacts the whole planet and its inhabitants including humans, as all life on Earth is interconnected. Therefore, humans should attempt to conserve the natural habitats of the Earth and in turn the animals that live in them. However, that is not the reality, for humans are one of the main causes of animal extinction and endangerment. As Julia Marton-Lefevre, IUCN's Director General said, “hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions”(in Goodman). In the entire Earth’s history there has only been five great mass extinctions, we are now in the midst of the sixth great mass extinction, driven by human demand for natural resources and the wildlife trade, in addition to other detrimental human actions. Southeast Asia is one of the regions in which numerous species are going extinct, so Southeast Asian governments should be more concerned with the immediate threat of animal extinction in Southeast Asia.
The exploitation of natural resources is a key factor in economic growth and