Not too long ago, humans were just like any other species of animals on the planet Earth. Before they became the top dog in the food chain, they not only hunted with the hounds, but also ran with the hares, just to save their lives. Not anymore today, humans do not have worry about any existential threat from any agent on the face of the earth. Survival is not the challenge anymore rather the tables have turned, and it is nature and wildlife at large who are threatened from human actions.

Threats facing the Animal Kingdom

It is said that the earth is a living system all the parts of it interact with each other to make life possible on earth. However, the subsystems of this huge system are facing threats that they have never faced before. Habitat destruction is one challenge facing many species of animals. It is hard to imagine how a species of salmon will survive its natural life cycle if the brook that it swims against to lay its eggs upstream is dammed and destroyed. When there are no salmon in the river, the bears that depend on them as a source of protein will be destroyed too.

Deforestation is another challenge faced by many living beings, including animals, birds and even the insects. It has been reported that a single tree in the rainforests of Brazil contains more species of ants than the whole British Isles.

Animal Silence

With each year, we are losing hundreds of species of mammals, birds and fish. If they are not threatened by poaching, then they are being threatened by oil spills that destroy colonies of fishes. Above all these challenges, there is the challenge of climate change that is going to hurt everyone equally. If steps are not taken soon to stop these changes, it will not be long before we lose so many living species that the chatter of the evening news on the TV will be our only company. A world without animals and other species will sound very silent indeed. Habitat loss affects more than just the species living in it.

Role of the Filmmakers

If civilization had more to do with forests and our fauna, the people living among them would have seen these changes themselves. That is not the case; we live in cities, far from the destruction happening in the jungles and the seas. It is not as if people do not care for the nature and wildlife, not at all. A visit to the zoo is everyone’s biggest adventure in the childhood. People are fascinated not just with their pets, but also with wildlife and plant life. This is shown by the popularity of the animal programs on Discovery and National Geographic channel. However, the challenge is that they are not well informed of the existenting threats faced by these same animals with which they are fascinated. It is the job of the filmmakers to bring not just pretty images from the natural world in the viewers living room, but also to film nature and the destruction that is happening there.