David Garcia

Ms. Frank
Senior Capstone
Period 6
May 1, 2014
Endangered Species
Life comes in many ways, the breeze of the plants, the living creature Mother Nature provided
us with animals, and us, the way we live to survive as humans. We can find a way to live no matter what
the environment is, but not the animals, they need our support to keep on healthy and living. Animals
have been around since the beginning of earth since the Jurassic age, no one knows what time
specifically but way before humans existed. Now the creatures that lived here billions of years ago are
no longer in our time, they are all extinct, all we have now are remains like bones, fossils and imageries
of what they might of look like. Since the 20th century, animals have been reducing in population all
over the world and we didnt even know it. Its been like this for years and to see an endangered species
go missing its an issue. There are multiple reasons why the decreasing of animals is occurring; its
because due to loss of habitat, climate change, diseases, pollution and most commonly, hunting and
poaching. The way things are now no wonder the animals are losing this fight, but thanks to people,
who are remarkable, caring and amazing they want to help out all animals around the world, thats why
now we have organizations worldwide like The Wildlife Conservation Society, World wild Life Found, The
Natural Recourses Defense Council, and many more. These organization help aim to keep the animals
safe from danger and increase their species so they can continue on living in peace. It is our duty as
human beings to stop the extinction of endangered species by working with wildlife organizations and
changing the world.
A problem that is well known everywhere is the poaching and hunting of a species. These
poachers are reckless and dont care about the survival or feelings of the animal they are hunting. They
think about the goods the animal has and for how much it can be sold. For example many poachers hunt
down tigers or leopards on mountains in order for them to have resources like food, medicine, fur,
bones and teeth. All these items can be used to make clothing, Jewelry, trophies and some are even
taken alive to use them and train them as pets, and an example of this is falconry which means they use
a falcon to help the poachers locate an animal, retrieve it, or kill it. All the poachers do what they need
to do because they see no problem with this. They do it as a way of surviving in their conditions some do
it for fun activities or to make money for the family they are providing. The way they make money is by
promoting them or come to an agreement with the buyer meaning trying to bargain for the product at a
reasonable price. Tigers or any type of cat species are decapitated the same way and for the same
reasons, to remove the head to skin the body from the neck down and use the head for hanging or
remove the teeth for weapons. In the early 1900s it all started with about 100,000 cat species together
worldwide and its been decreasing ever since, now at about 4000 cat species in the world. The species
of cats are located everywhere and would not want to see a cat decapitated for any reason, especially
the white tiger since its my favorite animal. (Snow Leopards for Kids).
Most of the hunting is done in Africa where many animals live; making it a good place to hunt
for poachers and the one thing they mainly go for is the rhinos horn. People in Africa believe that the
horn of a rhino is used to make medicine to cure the sick, but what poachers dont know is that their
horns are made by the same materials our nails are made of but bigger, stronger and thicker, so their
belief is wrong. Now they dont only use the horns to make medicine, they also use them to sell them,
wear as jewelry and use them as weapons by sharpening the tip of the horn and use them for hunting.
Back in 2012, 668 rhinos were poached in South Africa; by the year 2013 rhinos were being hunter two
per day making the species decrease faster (Endangered Species). Another big animal in danger are the
elephants, in the beginning of the 20th century there were about 100,000 Asian elephants walking
freely in the wild, and throughout time now theres about 35,000-40,000 Asian elephants. Poachers
usually hunt these massive creatures for their large tusks, mainly adults, for making structures to hold
houses, sell them for good profit, and use them as weapons as well now they are considered an
endangered species. These elephants mean no harm and just want to be with its herd and with its
family, usually they are separated by poachers, in my opinion they shouldnt hunt these animals at all.
(Top 10 Most Endangered Species in the World).
A couple more animals that are in danger is the Hawaiian Monk Seal, one of only two monk
seals are left on Earth the population of this individual is about 1,100. It is threatened by human
encroachment, very low levels genetic variation entanglement in fishing nets, marine debris, disease,
and past commercial hunting for skins. Another water type creature thats in danger is the Baji, this is
another type of dolphin called the Yangtze that only lives in a river in China, and that's where it got its
name from. These amazing creatures are rare and have been hunted by fishermen that have been doing
this for a living since 1986. Since then many initiatives took action and opened five reserves around the
Yangtze River to stop the fishing and killing. This has fishermen not hunting in that area any more, but
the numbers of these dolphins are still unknown. The Yangtze has a family member in its family tree, its
called the Vaquita. Vaquita is a family of porpoise that lives only in the Gulf of California, mainly in Baja
California and South Baja California, Mexico. These creatures are slowly going extinct mainly because of
fishing gears, they hunt this animal for its fins for soup or to eat any other body types, also it has other
natural predators that will kill them. Another possible death for the Vaquita is due to climate change
which affects their food availability and habitat along the gulf. About 500 to 600 are left and each year it
decreases by 15% to 25% since 1945. Plus at this rate there will be no more other type of dolphin
species in the near future for other generations to see. (Top 10 most endangered species in the
World).
Now one of the biggest creatures in the sea is called the North Pacific Right Whale that has been
in danger for more than a century. They are the most endangered species of whales with only 50 of
them left swimming in our oceans since they were about 30,000 back in the late 18th century. The
massive poaching of these whales began the killing of at least 25,000, but in the 20th century Asian
Pacific whaling activities increased including the notable Soviets whale excursion, illegally killing
thousands of whales in the Pacific including the Right Whale. Now the giant panda is also one of the
most endangered animals on the planet. Its mostly found in China, but now it seems that its hard to
find one in the wild, the reason for its extinction are for multiple reasons. Poaching and hunting is one,
followed by loss of habitat, destruction on environment and low birth rates. Researchers say within a
couple of years the panda population could be lower than 1000 pandas around the world. In china these
lovable creatures are the most loved ones in our time since its at a high risk of being extinct and people
agree. (Top 5 most endangered species in 2014).
As good people that are in the world today that form organizations we as human beings, we have to
save these amazing creatures from going extinct. All around the world there are people who are caring,
lovable, and passionate about the survival of the animals, and thats why we have organizations. All
around the world we have many organizations that people are in and volunteer rand help out to save
the animals habitat and its species. A World Wide organization thats known commonly to everyone is
the African Wildlife Foundation, since all the hunting and habitat loss are occurring on the other side its
a very big and large environment for the animal to move around in. With this Organization Jackie Chan is
also helping out, every time you donate he will write you a thank you letter and take a picture with the
animal you chose to help with a big poster saying thank you. (Jackie Chan Teams up with Spike the
Rhino). Since there are so many animals in danger around the world, they cant just place any type of
animal in any organization; they have to look up where they can place the creature in the right
organization. For example, in Rwanda and Uganda theres a place just for gorillas known as Gorilla
Doctor. This organization helps gorillas stay healthy, prevent diseases, and of course cure the ones that
are sick. (Gorilla Doctors Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project)
Another place thats located here in the United States is in Washington D.C. there you can find an
organization called PAWS. This organization only helps pet animals even though they are not in danger,
it helps the animals have a home and be loved by people when theyre owners threw them away or
mistreated them, the only difference from this place is that you cannot adopt. This is a place of
sanctuary for the animals that live there, they want peace and freedom, a human can understand that,
the people volunteering are only there to support and help them be happy, sure theyre not in danger
but it is a good organization that helps out animals in need. (Care for the Animals) Now WSPA, The
world Society of the Protection of animals, is a global organization that focuses on sea creatures that
dont tolerate animal cruelty but only have love and compassion for the creatures, to expand their
species and keep on living. If it werent for these noble and outstanding groups of people we wouldnt
have many animals left in our mother Earth, they have made miracles with their organizations and made
another day for the animals to walk freely. (The Latest News on Animal Welfare and Animal Cruelty).
My capstone project is about endangered species and what I am doing for my taking action part
is helping an organization called Camp Ayotcalli, located in the state of Guerrerro, Mexico and the
beachs name is called Playa Blanca, meaning White Beach. This organization is only focus on every type
of species of turtles; basically they only have a couple of species that only show up at their beach every
year. What this camp is set to do according to the director/CEO, Damaris Marin is to help out these
animals since they are an endanger species, to bring them into a friendly environment by the beach so
they can dig a hole and lay their eggs for theyre young to hatch. They experienced and seen poachers at
the beach trying to steal the eggs and get a hold of the sea turtle just too only get its shell for them to
get a hold of and sell them for a good price. The camp also patrols the area by splitting two parties; both
get in a four wheeler and both groups head on opposite directions of the beach, one heading north and
the other heading south. They continue this pattern depending which month they come in and lay their
eggs, they successfully scare off some poachers and report them, but when they are no poachers in sight
they also focus on finding a turtle and to study it on the spot. What they do is move the turtle so they
can see how many eggs it has laid and once they all been counted they take them to their camp, and
measure the hole they dug for studies and measure the turtle as well to see if its the same one that
came here years ago when it was a youngling too or if it was a previous turtle that comes that is new.
Once they treat the turtle babies and are fully healthy, it would mean it is time to let them go and
release them in the ocean for them to start their lives. This organization began back in 2010, so it is
basically a young organization that still needs improvement, right now they are building houses on the
beach so people who are helping can stay there and be close to the turtles. People who voluntarily help
come from all over the world, from Russia, to South Korea, Argentina and many more, this camp is being
well known for what is doing to these animals, they have their own web page at www.ayotcalli.org, or
you can find them in Facebook and twitter. The director or CEO Damaris Marin lives here in Houston but
goes to Ed White where she works as an instructional coordinator and can contact her at her e-mail at
(zitamich@hotmail.com) for more information. Donations can be made every time on their website, you
have the choice to donate money, food, and materials; during the summer is when they need everything
so they can be ready for the season of the turtles. This organization is doing this for a good cause and I
love how they take their effort and only get happiness in return, theyre making sea turtles such as the
hawksbill sea turtle live on and continue its species.
My capstone will address the four Asian Society Global Leadership Performance Outcomes
Categories; Investigating the World, Recognizing Perspectives, Communicating Ideas and Taking Action. I
have helped raise money to help my Organization on any activities they might have, and will help spread
the word at the Elementary so kids at a young age would know what has been going on with the turtles
and all over the world and about endangered species. This capstone project will help me become more
of a leader and a better speaker by taking action on the endangered species around the globe. I will
serve the organization by helping clean the community, ocean, forest, or grasslands for the animals to
live in a clean environment. This will also help me grow my knowledge on species by the number of
animals were losing each year and what can be done to prevent this, but to only learn its skills and
characteristics of the animal. My capstone project will increase my knowledge on writing, reading, and
researching skills, these activities are ways for me to be college ready and make an impact in the world
before I leave high school. Like always, everyone can help, you might be helping right now and you dont
even know it. What you can do to help out at any place and lend a hand is by doing something simple,
like recycling all recyclable trash, use less energy, clean up parks and beaches, get involved in the
community, and most importantly, spread the word to the world for all to hear and save the animals.












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