President's Message June 2025

Ann Paul, President, Tampa Audubon Society

Sometimes people ask me questions that make me really think. One of the most penetrating ones is, “Why should we be concerned about protecting rare species, and why should our country devote time, funds, and energy to ensure that species with populations in trouble are saved from extinction, as they already are showing their ‘unfitness’ to survive in the modern world?”

This question really bothers me, because with my pro-nature bias, it seems very brutal and cold, offering the opinion that plants and animals with ancestors stretching through the millennia should just be ignored while winking out on our planet, from our country or our state. But I think the question deserves discussion, and, with your indulgence, I offer some thoughts.

In the past, millions of species have been part of the earth’s biota, and most of them no longer live on the planet. Large scale geologic changes have caused this. But today, in most cases, wildlife species, whether we are thinking insects, birds, mammals, fish, or plants, are less able to successfully reproduce or survive because of development and destruction of habitats or impacts from a warming ecosystem.

In other words, human carelessness.

In my view, we have a responsibility to properly manage our world. That means we should have concern about our fellow humans, but also the wildlife and plants that are part of earth’s bounty. Proper management may mean making extra efforts to study the rarer species, to determine the cause of population declines and then to take steps to prevent further losses.

But that doesn’t answer the question of – Why should we care?

There are several reasons, I think.

If you are a religious person, because the Bible tells you so. The Ark of Life provided by God and preserved by Noah is important and man’s dominion over it requires his proper management, for future generations.

That part about future generations resonates with me. I want my children and grandchildren to be able to marvel at the incredible beauty and diversity of life on earth, as I have done, especially recently.

My appreciation of the abundance and astounding variety increases with every day as I watch television shows or hear talks about life on other continents, or travel to different parts of the United States, or read books about wildlife, or go on field trips or to the beach or anywhere outside. We are so lucky to live in a world with so much richness of life. It fills my spirit with joy. I am astounded and awed by this profusion and wealth.

The animals and plants are a form of wealth. Sometimes, actually in money, as how it turns out we could domesticate some of the wildlife and plants and grow them for our specific benefits (think Jungle Fowl = chickens, maize = corn).

Sometimes because people travel to places to see animals, go on whale-watching trips, or go to countries to see pandas, tigers, or gorillas in the wild and create jobs for the people who share those places with those target species. Sometimes the plants or animals provide life-saving drugs. It seems the height of carelessness to just let species wink out when it might be that we could use them for the benefit of people in some way, if we would only protect them until we have a chance to find out how.

We don’t know enough to know which animals and plants we can afford to lose. We have learned that removing a species from an ecosystem can affect the balance of life in negative ways. We learned this when we removed wolves from the west. Herbivores, their natural prey, over-populated and grazed down vegetation along stream beds, causing erosion and impacting trout and other fish populations.

Without gopher tortoises digging tunnels, up to 350 species that rely on their burrows would suffer. Without alligators, colonial waterbirds would not nest safely on predator-free islands and fish would die as swamps dry out during droughts without alligator dug-outs. Bats eat moths whose caterpillars would decimate crops and pollinate plants we value. It’s much better to keep intact a balanced system that has evolved over time.

And also because it’s generally just the right thing to do. Humans are here because of a long line of survivors, giving birth, raising children, for the generations. And so are the plants and animals that are alive with us on earth. How can we deny the intrinsic right of other denizens of the planet to survive into the future?

This is a topic for some discussion. Perhaps you have your reasons. Perhaps you disagree. Let’s talk about it!

Ann Paul

President

Tampa Audubon Society