Into the Fray! About WildAid

Blogs are hard work. There’s research and all kind of things involved, but…someone has to do it, and I guess right now that person is me. I am bringing to you today the first of a four to five blog series titled “Into the Fray” that will be detailing the results of my descent into the vast array of knowledge that is contained on WildAid.org. I will give you a brief description of everything contained within its folds(all the important stuff anyway) and at some point I will make a decision upon which one I think matters most to me and badger you all about it incessantly until around December the 7^th.

Today I’ll start with the “About Us” section of the site. This is the tab filled with all of the pertinent information about the site. It leads to eight tabs, only six of which I think are major but if you really care about who the founders and team members are then by all means check them out. I believe the two most important of these tabs are “The Illegal Wildlife Trade” and “Endangered & Trafficked Species Guide”, but I’ll talk about those last. This is the place where you’ll find your history on this organization. If you wished to write a report, or contact someone this area would do you well. You can check up on the financial comings and goings in their “Annual Reports & Financials section” and check to see if they’ve done anything noteworthy in their “Achievements” section. This is also where you’ll find their complete mission statement. Now back to The Illegal Wildlife Trade and the Endangered & Trafficked Species Guide.

Illegal Wildlife Trade outlines exactly what Illegal trade is to the amount of money it makes, and explains how illegal trade affects both animals and humans. It states:

“Estimated at $6-20 billion a year by Interpol, the illegal wildlife trade has drastically reduced numerous wildlife populations and currently has some teetering on the brink of extinction. The impact on human communities looks to be equally drastic in the long-term, as local resources required for sustenance hunting and tourism activities are depleted at an unsustainable rate, and as animal viruses including Ebola, SARS and possibly HIV may jump to human carriers during the poaching and transporting of wildlife. Despite the gravity of these threats, many countries lack the resources to defend their parks and wildlife against rampant poaching, while poachers often have few options to earn a living legally. Illegal wildlife products are still openly traded in many places, with buyers often unaware of the law or of the devastation they are financing. We can change this in our lifetimes.”

This makes us all aware of the fact that supporting their cause to save the animals could quite possibly save human health and livelihood, and I believe this is another great reason to support this organization. Like providing water WildAid assists in sustaining legal trade revenue that will improve the quality of life of areas on the brink of poverty.

The Endangered &Trafficked Species guide is by far my favorite. It houses a full lists of endangered species, including what part of their being their hunted for, and their endangered status. Although this section is somewhat depressing it is a very useful tool for those who are actually worried about the well being of these animals, and it shows how dire the situation around the world is. I believe that this section should be the most visited part of “About US.” I believe it is worth taking a look at every couple of weeks to a month just to keep up to date on what illegal trade is doing to our world. This section alone should be able to spur some into action when they see what happens to these poor animals.