There are two serious threats to wildlife across the globe: habitat loss and market hunting. As the human population expands towards eight billion humans hunting becomes a serious threat to the survival of many species. This is particularly true in the tropics where the productivity of edible wildlife is low.Removing large numbers of animals via hunting or any other method impacts the entire biotic community - often in unexpected ways. The loss of the Caroni Scarlet Ibis populations is deeply disturbing not because it generated a considerable number of tourism dollars, but the population was a symbol of Trinidad wildlife. The people who did this need to be publically exposed and shamed; and law enforcement needs to take action against them, no matter how politically incorrect it may be in certain segments of the population. The fact that bushmeat is popular in 2017 Trinidad say much about the society and the need for conservation education. The only question is what species will be the next to go?
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