Imagine you are an animal. You wandered the wastelands that were once a lush green forest that was your home. It's late spring, it's exactly the time of the mating season. Normally, you would be out looking for a mate, hoping you could find one. Except they're all gone. They were all forced to flee because the forest was falling. With nowhere to hide, the others were eaten by predators. You are the last of your kind and your search for a mate has been in vain. It's a fact: According to the ASPCA, approximately 700 species on earth are extinct, wiped out of existence. Some died due to natural changes, such as mastodons and dinosaurs, but others were wiped out due to human intervention, such as the dodo and passenger pigeon. Why should we protect endangered species? It is worth writing an essay on this topic. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Did you know that if just one species goes extinct, it can potentially affect other species as well? If one species dies, it can destroy an entire food chain. A single species is just one piece of the food chain, and if you remove it, chaos could ensue. One case is: “Army ants, for example, are known to support 100 known species, from cockroaches to birds.” Its loss could have a devastating effect on the species that depend on it. Let's face it: if we keep killing species, they will start bringing others with them. Now you might ask yourself, “Well, why should I care about plants and animals dying? I'm a human being! It's none of my business!" Well, you should actually be concerned about the state of endangered species, and you'll find out more about that later. I'm sure you never knew that species loss can also affect our economy. Yes, our economy, you heard me right. Some species fuel businesses and industries. An example is the common bee. “Beekeepers in 24 U.S. states report that up to 70% of their colonies have recently died, putting $14 billion at risk for U.S. agriculture.” (Wagner) The bee provides us with products such as honey and beeswax and is an important pollinator of plants! Imagine him dying! Another example is the problem of overfishing. “It represents more than 230 million jobs worldwide. Furthermore, tens of millions of people depend directly or indirectly on fishing for their livelihoods. The fish they catch contribute about 16% of the animal protein consumed worldwide." From this you can see that fishing is a huge industry that impacts millions of people around the world. Simply put, no more fish to catch equals more fishing jobs, and no more fish to eat, and we're not even talking about the environmental impact. Next, you will hear what else could happen if a certain plant species were wiped out, which could compromise the health of the human race. Did you know that some medicines come from plants? For example, aspirin comes from willow bark. “The natural world holds the secrets to developing new types of safer and more powerful painkillers; treatments for a major cause of blindness – macular degeneration – and possibly ways to regrow lost tissues and organs, for example by studying newts and salamanders.” Think about it; we could develop new medicines and treatments by studying plants and animals! An example is pumiliotoxins, present in the skin of poison frogs, which are currently at riskdue to the destruction of their habitat, along with many other amphibians. Who knows? Perhaps there are other species out there that contain new developments for medicine, such as a cure for the common cold, cancer, or AIDS. Now, I know not everyone agrees with me. Some people say that protecting endangered species costs taxpayers' wallets too much money and that protecting species doesn't even benefit us humans, and I politely disagree with that. Although it is true that the effort of species conservation costs a lot of money, but with all the contributions and impacts that animals have on the environment, it is necessary and worth protecting them. While helping humans is equally important, we must realize that we are not the only ones on this planet and it is our duty to protect life on it. We have succeeded in enacting laws that protect endangered species. We can see this in many animals that we have managed to restore to their normal population. An example of such an animal is the bald eagle. About forty years ago, the bald eagle was in danger of extinction due to the destruction of its habitat, illegal killing, and contamination of its food source by the pesticide DDT. The federal government introduced the Endangered Species Act and banned the use of the pesticide DDT. The Endangered Species Act is a bill that protects animals “globally threatened with extinction” and bans their importation without permission. Even the non-living parts of nature have been saved by protecting them. Lake Erie is a critical water source for the people of Toledo. The lake has been granted rights under the Lake Erie Bill of Rights to ensure that anyone who pollutes it can be sued. Giving nature legal status, and that includes non-living people, is obviously the next logical step we need to take, as we can see that we have examples of giving rights to nature, and it works. Animals are also part of nature, which is to say we can't do the same with ecosystems if it would work with endangered animals. As you can see, we should protect endangered species which include not only animals but also plants and vegetation. When they die, they can affect us years later with serious consequences. We should make a greater effort to prevent habitat destruction, poaching and illegal trade in endangered and threatened species. To summarize, I have argued that we should protect endangered species because they might affect other species in the food chain, because they might affect our industries and our economy, and because some species can help bring about new developments in medicine. This is certainly more than enough to prove that endangered species need to be protected. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay As I close my essay, we should ask ourselves: How can we protect endangered animals? Like I said, we all live on this planet and it's just cruel to simply wipe a species off the face of the Earth. Furthermore, animals contribute to the biodiversity of our planet. If we let species die and continue destroying their habitats, Earth will no longer be so interesting. We should always try to find ways to protect endangered animals as we need to preserve this biodiversity for our future generations to see and learn about. If we can manage a peaceful coexistence between us humans and animals on planet Earth, it will be a win-win for both of us. Works CitedCaro, T. M. (2007). Behavior e,.