Wildlife Fundamentals: What We Included & What We Left Out

The world of wildlife is as vast as you can get: it reaches to every corner of the planet, from one pole to another, from high in the sky to the deep oceans. As much as we would have liked to cover every possible wildlife issue we could think of in this one resource, it’s simply impossible to do it all. 

Firstly, perhaps the most obvious issue that we left out is the overall topic of endangered species. While we did cover a range of species that are endangered, especially species who face threats from human activities like trafficking, the issue of species endangerment and extinction is much bigger than we could give proper space to. There are so many aspects of species extinction we could have covered, including:  

• Habitat Destruction: The human population is growing and growing, and we are constantly expanding our range and reach into areas where we previously haven’t. In the process, we sculpt and shape the landscape to our own ends, often with little regard for the animal life that lives there. 
• Agriculture vs. Nature: Closely related to habitat destruction is the clearing of forests and other biomes for conversion into cropland, or grazing fields for cows. 
• Wildlife Predation By Companion Animals: Another hot button issue related to outdoor companion animals is their killing of wildlife. It’s something that we covered in our Companion Animal Fundamentals, and it’s an issue that will no doubt continue to create tension among advocates working in different areas.
• Conservation Enforcement: Having laws and regulations in place is incredibly important for the protection of wildlife. However, those laws are meaningless if not enforced properly. Around the world, conservation organizations, governments, and advocates struggle to have laws properly applied.

Secondly, a big topic that we didn’t cover, and one that certainly has many opportunities for active participation, is the issue of urban wildlife and encroachment. Urban wildlife like squirrels, rats, racoons, birds, etc. are the wild animals that the majority of us interact with most frequently, due to our proximity and often-overlapping habitats. Fortunately, the Faunalytics Library has a broad range of articles on urban wildlife, and the various issues that arise from our contact with them. Dive in to find out more about this fraught relationship that is sometimes good, often bad, and has many opportunities for positive intervention.

Finally, an issue that has gained a steadily increasing amount of attention from animal advocates is Wild Animal Suffering (WAS). It stems from an ethical standpoint in which we recognize that, if all animal life is taken as equal, that the suffering of wild animals — even from “natural” sources — is ethically imperative for us to help minimize. There is a growing body of literature and research that looks at WAS and related issues, but the field is not without its critics: there is considerable debate about just how much humans should intervene in nature to alleviate the suffering of wild animals, and if we do intervene, how we should do so. Still, Faunalytics recognizes that WAS is an emerging field of study; it’s one that we already cover and will continue to cover with an eye towards curating the best studies for effective advocacy outcomes.

These are just three issues we could have covered in the Wildlife Fundamentals. When we set out to make this resource, we knew that it would be impossible to cover everything, but we feel that we’ve provided some excellent starting points. As we regularly make updates to our Fundamentals series to keep them stocked with the most up to date data, contact us if you have ideas for data that we could add or revise! Additionally, if you find these resources useful in your advocacy, let us know how you’ve used them, and donate to help us continue this type of work!