National Wildlife Day is an opportunity to step outside…… take a deep breathe and appreciate what surrounds us in the nature. Not just animals, but insects and plants as well.
I know I’m a pet photographer and love animals as our loving companions, but I think it is important to highlight National Wildlife Day for so many reasons. Animals, and not just as our pets, serve so many purposes for the earth. It is important to recognize and respect their existence.
It is increasingly common for species to become stressed and endangered or even extinct more quickly now than ever before. The Center for Biological Diversity wrote an article on human population growth and its correlation to the increase in extinction. LINK
When I ponder the human impact on wildlife and also what we call the “circle of life”, I’m concerned over the possibility of the harm we as humans have caused. Because of our increase in urban sprawl and decimating crop land and forests to do so, we deplete the habitat for which our wildlife can thrive. It is important to preserve land for wildlife to be able to continue to exist. Their existence continues to benefit us even when we don’t know it.
Consider this…… I’m sure you’ve read or saw on social media that opossums are incredible with eating and consuming lots of ticks… well, it’s true! The National Wildlife Federation wrote about their ability to groom themselves and consume 95% of the ticks on their bodies as well as on the ground. LINK By having the wonderful opossum consume these disease carrying insects, it helps reduce the population of ticks and and by default helping to curb the spread of diseases like Lyme Disease. So, please be careful with our wonderful wildlife and our earth. It is a delicate balance.
