Life is very precious. We humans have taken it for granted and in some ways also feel that we hold the power to manipulate and control it. That has led to the human race toying with the fabric of nature.

Today, there are several species of animals which stand at the brink of extinction. There is dire need to take action on this issue, and the need is now. Using an analogy used by population biologist Paul Ehrlich, we can now understand and explain what is happening. If we were to liken the ecosystem to an aero plane, the extinction of species can be likened to taking out rivets from the wings of the plane. No rivet is equally important and there is no one rivet, which is more important than the other; but there will come a time, when the removal of one particular rivet will cause the entire plane to crash. It is the same course that we have taken with our ecosystem. Mankind is hurtling towards that one final species that will cause the entire ecosystem to collapse. We need to be proactive and put an end to this before it is too late.

Further, the forests that provide a habitat to the wild animals also takes care of us humans in ways that we can never imagine. The forests provide us with water, most of the major river systems of Karnataka such as Cauvery, take birth in the forests. The flow of the water is regulated in the forest and it is the plants that prevent soil erosion. When we protect wildlife from human destruction we are not indulging in a luxury that we cannot afford in a poverty-stricken, overpopulated country as argued by some. We are, in fact, protecting the soil-water resources that sustain millions of people in our state.

Wildlife habitats are like laboratories where nature breeds a complete gene pool, many of which we are yet to discover, which may lead to several scientific breakthroughs beneficial to the human kind, if discovered. The forests which now serve as habitats for wildlife, comprises of less than 3 percent of the total land area in the country. Of this only about 1% of the land area is inviolate for wildlife. This is not a huge drain on the land that we possess. Besides, wildlife is the result of Millions of years of evolution, does it not have the right to be protected, to be given a chance to survive and evolve.

Anything that is man-made on this planet can be taken apart and put back together. With the level of technological advancements, it only becomes easier and easier to replicate the things that were considered a feat at one point of time. We can now undertake a pyramid construction project and finish it in 18 months, something that took decades for the Egyptians to complete. Nevertheless, we do not have the power to reconstruct nature. We are destroying it. If this continues unhindered, then we would not be in a position to put it back together.

We must stop. We must conserve. We must preserve.