The fastest land animal in the world is losing its most important race: the race for survival. At the turn of the century an estimated 100,000 cheetah lived in 44 countries throughout Africa and Asia. Today, there are less than 10,000 cheetah world-wide. South Africa is home to fewer than 600 of these majestic cats.

Loss of habitat, poaching, competition with large predators and ranchers are killing off the remaining cheetahs’. Unfortunately, captive breeding efforts have not proven meaningful to the cheetah’s hopes of survival.

The two cheetah cubs pictured above are being offered for sale by The Hoedspruit Research and Breeding Centre for Endangered Species.  Their price is negotiable.  It is an extremely unpleasant thought to realize that these adorable cheetah cubs or cubs like them will grow up to be hunted and driven from their homes.  Without help, these beautiful creatures have little chance for survival; like so many other species their lives have been endangered by humanity’s progress.
 
 

This beautiful creature is a margay; his name is Rustin.  Margays are small in size, roughly the equivalent of a grown housecat.  Recently I went to the Sacramento Zoo and this little guy really caught my attention.  Sadly, he was kept in a fenced-in area about the size of a walk-in closet and he kept pacing around.  The person I was with told me he was probably hungry, but I think he probably was just bored from pacing around and around the same tiny area millions of times.

Margays are the best climbers of all cats.  They can run up and down trees like squirrels do, and it’s not unusual for a margay to be seen hanging head downward from one hind foot while it catches a quick nap seventy feet in the air.  The margay is endangered; its estimated population is 10,000--frighteningly reminiscent of the remaining number of cheetahs.  While surfing the Internet I’ve seen websites dedicated to raising funds for the cheetah, but never any for the margay.  No one seems to care about these poor little guys . . . which is why they’ll soon be extinct if nothing is done to reverse such heinous damage.  On a personal note, I really think margays are fascinating and I would do anything in my power to keep them alive.

This is a cub tiger; he’s cute isn’t he?  It’s too bad less than 7,000 of these unique animals remain, spread out across Asia in tiny islands of forest.

Out of the eight tiger subspecies, three are already extinct, the Caspian, the Javan and the Bali tiger. The South China tiger is virtually gone with only 30 to 40 animals left. Two more are balancing on the edge, the Siberian and the Sumatran, each subspecies having approximately 500 animals left. The Indo Chinese is not far behind with its numbers between 1,000 to 1,700.

The Indian Bengal tiger population is the largest with 3 to 4.5 thousand and thus represents the tiger’s last, best chance for survival.

Threats to tigers which have succeeded in drastically lowering their population are poaching, population fragmentation, and habitat loss.  The Indian tigers is being poached at a rate of one tiger per day.  Their body parts are the main focus of poaching and are later sold on the black market for usage in traditional chinese medicine.  See, according to legend the tigers are a source of power and their body parts have healing powers.  In other words, tigers are being slaughtered by the hundreds because a bunch of wackos think they’ll be healed by killing all the tigers.

It seems our little guy in the picture at the top of the tiger section has a lot to look forward to when he grows up.

Another source of his demise is habitat loss.  You see, it seems as though only small portions of the once fertile forests in Asia are left; most of the forests have gone towards building homes and farming areas.  Unfortunately, tigers need this forest to survive because if they don't have forests, they have no means of food.

If it’s Constitutionally guaranteed that we as Americans shall not be forced to endure any cruel and unusual punishment, does it seem fair to you that animals are not protected from such?  Most people think of animals as being inferior, somewhat like dogs.  We don’t yell at animals because they don’t understand us when we yell at them, just like we don’t hit them when they piss all over the carpet because they don’t realize they’ve done something bad.  Why then should we slaughter these "inferior beings" who understand pain but not the reasoning behind it?  Why won’t we protect them?