Why would killing endangered species hurt us, the environment, the planet?

Question

Why not eliminate dangerous species like crocodiles, sharks, snakes, cockroaches, etc? Dinosaur and other species are gone and we are still here.

Answer 1

First, crocodiles, sharks, snakes and cockroaches are not really dangerous, in the grand scheme of things. More people die getting out of bathtubs each year than from all of these dangerous animals combined.

Let's just look at Austrailia: Rabbits were first introduced to Australia by the First Fleet in 1788, but the current infestation appears to have originated with the release of 24 wild rabbits by Thomas Austin on his property, Barwon Park (near Winchelsea, Victoria), in October 1859 for hunting purposes. The effect of rabbits on the ecology of Australia has been devastating. One eighth of all mammalian species in Australia are now extinct (rabbits are the most significant known factor), and the loss of plant species is unknown even at this time. All because the balance of preditor to prey was thrown off (there was no real preditor for these rabbits).

Bottom-line is that the elimination or addition of a species has unknown effects on the environment.

Plus, birds like the sandhill crane taste so darned good.

Answer 2

Everything is interconnected in ways we can't even imagine.

Take the current crisis polar bears are facing.  Because of the loss of polar ice sheets (do to global warming) polar bears are having trouble hunting seals, which is the main staple of their diet.

If the polar bear population crashes that means more seals.  More seals means larger fish like salmon and tuna will be over hunted by them.

Fewer salmon and tuna would result in a boom in the populations of "feeder" or medium size fish.  These fish in turn would over feed on the shrimp, krill and other key species that launch the food chain.

The loss of the species at the bottom of the food chain, collapses the entire life cycle for that ecosystem.

This is why allowing endangered species to vanish from the face of the earth would hurt us.

"We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road (the one less traveled by) offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth."

--Rachel Carson

Answer 3

Because everything is connected.  For example, I heard they brought pigs to Australia from another country.  Pigs eat turtle eggs.  Turtles eat jellyfish.  Now there's lots of jellyfish and you have to be careful while swimming.

Answer 4

Because the ecosystem in an area is in balance with the creature already there. Sure, you might not like snakes, but they prey on some other animal that would become overpopulated if they weren't there.

For example, I don't like bees. But if you wiped out all bees, few plants would get polinated and almost all plant life would die. While some species dying would not be this catastrophic, it's nearly impossible to predict the entire chain of effects one out cause.

Answer 5

If it's a "cute" or "mysterious" or "ancient" animal, we cannot touch it..However, if it's ugly no one cares and they can go (anyone remember the Dodo bird?).  Everyone wants to save the Polar Bears, never mind the school kids in Alaska and parts of Canada that have to carry shot guns to school to shoot a bear if it comes up on them (seriously).  We worry about over population of humans, when we should worry about over populations of other animals.  Find me any other animal on the planet that can farm or raise live stock for their own consumption.  It won't be long before the "endangered species" that make the list but never come off will need food stamps.

Answer 6

All animals ,insects, plants etc are here for a reason. we may not know why, but one thing they do have is the right to live on this planet, we do not own earth everything has a right to it. Its true what they say MAN is the cruelest of all animals.

Answer 7

It wouldn't, if the endangered species was homo sapiens.

Answer 8

one becuase they are cool animals. Have you ever went scuba diving with them. I have it is the best. I have dove with just about every type of shark there is including the great white and tiger shark. they are beautiful to see  in their own enviroment. I have been in with alligators and they are amazing.

The other reason is becuase they serve a purpose in the food chain. They ech perform a duty. Snakes keep the rodent population down,

I know you are just being stupid so I will leave my answer short

Answer 9

The ecosystem is a very balanced process.Every creature has it's own predators that pray on them . That is what keeps

everything in check.remove one animal insect or creature, is

like removing a link in a chain. With a balance system the chain has no end when you remove a link there is now an end.

Life renews itself over an over until we destroy that link.  That

is why all gods' creatures are so very important..