Persuasive Speech: Hunting And Poaching Should Be Highly Regulated
Anastacia Constantinidis
Herro
COM 101
10/23/14
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that hunting and poaching should be more harshly regulated because it will help preserve the many suffering species worldwide.
Central Idea: All continents across the globe are facing thousands of endangered species who are unable to help themselves; species which are unfortunately being hunted and poached. Therefore, students here at CSN need to understand the devastating statistics and ways in which these issues can be resolved.
Introduction
I. When I was growing up, I would always enjoy my trips to the zoo – seeing amazing animals which weren’t seen in everyday life. Can you imagine seeing these gorgeous animals when you were younger, and a few years later, they were gone?
A. Extinction is extremely vital to be …show more content…
aware of – it is something which we human beings have a large responsibility of.
B. When it comes to animals, I am talking about ocean wildlife, elephants, tigers, bears and rhinos. Are these species being poached for a hobby or for money? In today’s society, this is one of the easiest questions to answer – money!
II. So, why is this important to us as students? How would something like this impact our daily lives?
A. Human beings play a certain role on Earth, but so do these species. Without them, we would live very ordinary lives. These animals make up our foundation and it is vital that we save them from any unnecessary harm.
III. Today I am here to persuade you that hunting and poaching should be taken more seriously. They both should be more harshly regulated to help prevent the future extinction of the many endangered species.
IV. I will be providing a brief overview of some of the current hunting and poaching regulations, penalties one faces if convicted of poaching, and which regulations and penalties should be more strictly executed to decrease the illegal act of poaching.
[Transition: Firstly, I will start by discussing some of the current regulations of hunting, both here in the United States and in other countries.]
Body
I. The current regulations of hunting and poaching need to be enforced differently.
A. According to the article “How Poaching Works,” in the 1500s, killing a deer meant death to anyone but royalty (Shadow, 2013).
1. Now, killing a deer is looked upon as an accomplishment or something to be proud of when it should be taken as seriously as it was hundreds of years ago.
B. In 2012, The Los Angeles Times wrote that an estimated 30-50 tigers are killed each year by poachers and residents in Russia (Loiko).
C. But research goes on to show that from the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991-2009, only one person was found guilty of killing a tiger (Loiko, 2012).
1. With this lack of regulation and conviction, poaching will continue to increase.
D. In the United states, game laws are in place to restrict hunting limits and protect the numbers of animals available year after year (Shadow, 2013).
1. When these poachers kill out of season, they jeopardize the health and longevity of the herd and interrupt breeding seasons.
E. Another current regulation is China’s Ivory Trade Ban. Even with this ban that started in 1989, poaching and illegal trade continues to increase.
1. Almost 24 tons of illegally-harvested ivory from elephant tusks were seized by investigators in 2011-the largest haul since records began in 1990 and more than twice the amount in 2010 (The Economist, 2012).
2. The poachers cut the elephant’s face off, leaving the body to rot in the dense jungle.
3. This increase in poaching and illegal trade is caused by a lack of regulation, punishment, and education.
[Transition: Now that you are all aware of these regulations and their lack of success, I will now expose you to the current penalties and punishments one receives for breaking these laws.]
II. Today, poaching is seen by many as highly unethical. The consequences for killing these innocent animals are present in society today, but ineffective.
A. A hunter in Russia’s Far East was sentenced to 18 months of community service and fined about $18,500 for killing a Siberian Tiger, according to the Los Angeles Times (Loiko, 2012).
1. This seems like an appropriate punishment for the crime, for only 500 of these tigers remain on Earth today. However, author Loiko wrote that this was a very rare case of punishment in this country for poaching the endangered animal (2012).
2. The convicted hunter said he killed the innocent animal in “self-defense,” and authorities later discovered the animal after it had bled to death (Loiko, 2012).
3. These instances are occurring all of the time around the world, and for what?
4. This poor animal bled to death for no reason at all, and even though the hunter was caught and punished, who knows how many more times this has happened where the hunter got away.
III. More than 154 nations have signed treaties to regulate trade of more than 30,000 species of plant and animals that are threatened (Shadow, 2013). However, the problem is that banning trade can actually increase the value of hide or body parts and put the species at an even higher risk for poaching and illegal trade.
A. This is where the most crucial problem of poaching and illegal trade comes in.
B. Us students and all of society are contributing to this problem and keeping it thriving every day, through the major demand of these animals and their parts.
[Transition: I have expressed to you some of the possible punishments for poaching and their results, but now I will show you how eliminating the demand is the key component in stopping these horrible crimes.]
IV. Traditional anti-poaching policies, such as raising the amount of fines and lengthening jail terms, appear to have only minimally reduced poaching.
A. Consequently, it may be the case that the only way that a government can impose a large enough cost on poachers to effectively reduce poaching is to authorize lethal law enforcement, or a shoot-on-sight policy.
1. This policy is being implemented in different countries such as Nepal and Zimbabwe, and showing successful results.
2. Author Kent Messer published a journal article stating that in the countries where shoot-on-sight policies have been instituted for a number of years, general trends in the animal populations suggest that they have been successful (2010).
3. After the policy was introduced, Nepal’s rhino population rebounded from 96 in 1968 to 600 in 2002 (Messer, 2010).
4. Research goes on to show that after Zimbabwe instituted the policy in 1984, 167 poachers were killed in the decade following, while its elephant population increased by nearly 50% (Messer, 2010).
5. Of course this policy brings up ethical concerns, such as the severity of a punishment should correspond to the severity of the harm done by the crime, but why shouldn’t animals be given an equal chance to live as humans do?
6. Even if the policy was around and more people were aware, it is guaranteed that fewer poachers would take the risk, for the consequences are too high.
B. Even a greater effort from the community can help the fight against illegal trade and poaching.
1. For example, Google and the World Wildlife Fund have teamed up to begin flying drones over part of Africa and Asia in attempt to monitor and catch wildlife poachers who kill endangered tigers, rhinos, and elephants (Koebler, 2012).
2. Through these drones, Google has helped law enforcement track poachers through tough-to-reach places and catch these criminals.
3. Since we all don’t own billion dollar companies such as Google, there are other ways we can come together as a community and help reduce the increasing amount of poaching, such as joining an advocacy group.
4. Save the Elephants is one example of a group that urges the community not to buy any products from endangered species and stresses the importance of “squashing the demand” (The Economist, 2012).
a. Chinese celebrity Yao Ming, a member of this advocacy group, stresses that “When the buying stops, the killing can too” (The Economist, 2012).
[Transition: I hope after hearing of these endangered species and punishments, you can all see the importance of heavily regulating laws to stop them from becoming extinct.]
Conclusion
I.
As my speech is reaching its conclusion, there are still many students here who probably haven’t understood the true reality of what is happening with these species.
A. Carter Roberts, president of the World Wildlife Fund, puts this crisis into perspective for us. He states that “We face an unprecedented poaching crisis. The killings are way up and we need solutions that are as sophisticated as the threats we face” (Koebler, 2012).
B. Illegal animal trade is estimated to be a $10 billion industry worldwide, according to U.S. News (Koebler, 2012).
II. Today I have informed you of this growing industry and the efforts to shut it down. Knowing where species occur and their risk of extinction is fundamental for deciding where to focus our efforts to protect them.
III. We as students need to be aware of the controversial topic of poaching, as well as hunting and understand the impact it is having on our globe as a whole.
IV. It is all of our responsibilities to at least be aware of the impacts of these crimes in our society, but it is your personal moral values that will make you think about it after today and decide what you would like to do about it.
References
Black ivory; poaching. (2012, Mar 10). The Economist, 402, 73-n/a. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/927581699?accountid=3611
(American Psychological Assoc.)References McCOMBIE, B. (2010). The Penalties of Poaching. Outdoor Life, 217(7), 46.
Loiko, S. L. (2012, Nov 14). A rare penalty for russian poaching; Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1151607414?accountid=3611
Messer, K. (2010 Aug 6). Protecting endangered species: When are shoot-on-sight policies the only viable option to stop poaching? Ecological Economics 69 (2010); 2334-2340.
Koebler, J. (2012, 12). Google to fund anti-poaching drones in Asia, Africa. U.S. News & World Report, 1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1272285062?accountid=3611
T, Prins, Herbert H (06/07/2013). "Rhino poaching: unique challenges". Science (New York, N.Y.) (0036-8075), 340 (6137), p. 1167.
Shadow, Simon. "How Poaching Works" 09 December 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hunting/traditional-methods/poaching.htm> 04 August 2013.
Herro
COM 101
10/23/14
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that hunting and poaching should be more harshly regulated because it will help preserve the many suffering species worldwide.
Central Idea: All continents across the globe are facing thousands of endangered species who are unable to help themselves; species which are unfortunately being hunted and poached. Therefore, students here at CSN need to understand the devastating statistics and ways in which these issues can be resolved.
Introduction
I. When I was growing up, I would always enjoy my trips to the zoo – seeing amazing animals which weren’t seen in everyday life. Can you imagine seeing these gorgeous animals when you were younger, and a few years later, they were gone?
A. Extinction is extremely vital to be …show more content…
aware of – it is something which we human beings have a large responsibility of.
B. When it comes to animals, I am talking about ocean wildlife, elephants, tigers, bears and rhinos. Are these species being poached for a hobby or for money? In today’s society, this is one of the easiest questions to answer – money!
II. So, why is this important to us as students? How would something like this impact our daily lives?
A. Human beings play a certain role on Earth, but so do these species. Without them, we would live very ordinary lives. These animals make up our foundation and it is vital that we save them from any unnecessary harm.
III. Today I am here to persuade you that hunting and poaching should be taken more seriously. They both should be more harshly regulated to help prevent the future extinction of the many endangered species.
IV. I will be providing a brief overview of some of the current hunting and poaching regulations, penalties one faces if convicted of poaching, and which regulations and penalties should be more strictly executed to decrease the illegal act of poaching.
[Transition: Firstly, I will start by discussing some of the current regulations of hunting, both here in the United States and in other countries.]
Body
I. The current regulations of hunting and poaching need to be enforced differently.
A. According to the article “How Poaching Works,” in the 1500s, killing a deer meant death to anyone but royalty (Shadow, 2013).
1. Now, killing a deer is looked upon as an accomplishment or something to be proud of when it should be taken as seriously as it was hundreds of years ago.
B. In 2012, The Los Angeles Times wrote that an estimated 30-50 tigers are killed each year by poachers and residents in Russia (Loiko).
C. But research goes on to show that from the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991-2009, only one person was found guilty of killing a tiger (Loiko, 2012).
1. With this lack of regulation and conviction, poaching will continue to increase.
D. In the United states, game laws are in place to restrict hunting limits and protect the numbers of animals available year after year (Shadow, 2013).
1. When these poachers kill out of season, they jeopardize the health and longevity of the herd and interrupt breeding seasons.
E. Another current regulation is China’s Ivory Trade Ban. Even with this ban that started in 1989, poaching and illegal trade continues to increase.
1. Almost 24 tons of illegally-harvested ivory from elephant tusks were seized by investigators in 2011-the largest haul since records began in 1990 and more than twice the amount in 2010 (The Economist, 2012).
2. The poachers cut the elephant’s face off, leaving the body to rot in the dense jungle.
3. This increase in poaching and illegal trade is caused by a lack of regulation, punishment, and education.
[Transition: Now that you are all aware of these regulations and their lack of success, I will now expose you to the current penalties and punishments one receives for breaking these laws.]
II. Today, poaching is seen by many as highly unethical. The consequences for killing these innocent animals are present in society today, but ineffective.
A. A hunter in Russia’s Far East was sentenced to 18 months of community service and fined about $18,500 for killing a Siberian Tiger, according to the Los Angeles Times (Loiko, 2012).
1. This seems like an appropriate punishment for the crime, for only 500 of these tigers remain on Earth today. However, author Loiko wrote that this was a very rare case of punishment in this country for poaching the endangered animal (2012).
2. The convicted hunter said he killed the innocent animal in “self-defense,” and authorities later discovered the animal after it had bled to death (Loiko, 2012).
3. These instances are occurring all of the time around the world, and for what?
4. This poor animal bled to death for no reason at all, and even though the hunter was caught and punished, who knows how many more times this has happened where the hunter got away.
III. More than 154 nations have signed treaties to regulate trade of more than 30,000 species of plant and animals that are threatened (Shadow, 2013). However, the problem is that banning trade can actually increase the value of hide or body parts and put the species at an even higher risk for poaching and illegal trade.
A. This is where the most crucial problem of poaching and illegal trade comes in.
B. Us students and all of society are contributing to this problem and keeping it thriving every day, through the major demand of these animals and their parts.
[Transition: I have expressed to you some of the possible punishments for poaching and their results, but now I will show you how eliminating the demand is the key component in stopping these horrible crimes.]
IV. Traditional anti-poaching policies, such as raising the amount of fines and lengthening jail terms, appear to have only minimally reduced poaching.
A. Consequently, it may be the case that the only way that a government can impose a large enough cost on poachers to effectively reduce poaching is to authorize lethal law enforcement, or a shoot-on-sight policy.
1. This policy is being implemented in different countries such as Nepal and Zimbabwe, and showing successful results.
2. Author Kent Messer published a journal article stating that in the countries where shoot-on-sight policies have been instituted for a number of years, general trends in the animal populations suggest that they have been successful (2010).
3. After the policy was introduced, Nepal’s rhino population rebounded from 96 in 1968 to 600 in 2002 (Messer, 2010).
4. Research goes on to show that after Zimbabwe instituted the policy in 1984, 167 poachers were killed in the decade following, while its elephant population increased by nearly 50% (Messer, 2010).
5. Of course this policy brings up ethical concerns, such as the severity of a punishment should correspond to the severity of the harm done by the crime, but why shouldn’t animals be given an equal chance to live as humans do?
6. Even if the policy was around and more people were aware, it is guaranteed that fewer poachers would take the risk, for the consequences are too high.
B. Even a greater effort from the community can help the fight against illegal trade and poaching.
1. For example, Google and the World Wildlife Fund have teamed up to begin flying drones over part of Africa and Asia in attempt to monitor and catch wildlife poachers who kill endangered tigers, rhinos, and elephants (Koebler, 2012).
2. Through these drones, Google has helped law enforcement track poachers through tough-to-reach places and catch these criminals.
3. Since we all don’t own billion dollar companies such as Google, there are other ways we can come together as a community and help reduce the increasing amount of poaching, such as joining an advocacy group.
4. Save the Elephants is one example of a group that urges the community not to buy any products from endangered species and stresses the importance of “squashing the demand” (The Economist, 2012).
a. Chinese celebrity Yao Ming, a member of this advocacy group, stresses that “When the buying stops, the killing can too” (The Economist, 2012).
[Transition: I hope after hearing of these endangered species and punishments, you can all see the importance of heavily regulating laws to stop them from becoming extinct.]
Conclusion
I.
As my speech is reaching its conclusion, there are still many students here who probably haven’t understood the true reality of what is happening with these species.
A. Carter Roberts, president of the World Wildlife Fund, puts this crisis into perspective for us. He states that “We face an unprecedented poaching crisis. The killings are way up and we need solutions that are as sophisticated as the threats we face” (Koebler, 2012).
B. Illegal animal trade is estimated to be a $10 billion industry worldwide, according to U.S. News (Koebler, 2012).
II. Today I have informed you of this growing industry and the efforts to shut it down. Knowing where species occur and their risk of extinction is fundamental for deciding where to focus our efforts to protect them.
III. We as students need to be aware of the controversial topic of poaching, as well as hunting and understand the impact it is having on our globe as a whole.
IV. It is all of our responsibilities to at least be aware of the impacts of these crimes in our society, but it is your personal moral values that will make you think about it after today and decide what you would like to do about it.
References
Black ivory; poaching. (2012, Mar 10). The Economist, 402, 73-n/a. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/927581699?accountid=3611
(American Psychological Assoc.)References McCOMBIE, B. (2010). The Penalties of Poaching. Outdoor Life, 217(7), 46.
Loiko, S. L. (2012, Nov 14). A rare penalty for russian poaching; Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1151607414?accountid=3611
Messer, K. (2010 Aug 6). Protecting endangered species: When are shoot-on-sight policies the only viable option to stop poaching? Ecological Economics 69 (2010); 2334-2340.
Koebler, J. (2012, 12). Google to fund anti-poaching drones in Asia, Africa. U.S. News & World Report, 1. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1272285062?accountid=3611
T, Prins, Herbert H (06/07/2013). "Rhino poaching: unique challenges". Science (New York, N.Y.) (0036-8075), 340 (6137), p. 1167.
Shadow, Simon. "How Poaching Works" 09 December 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hunting/traditional-methods/poaching.htm> 04 August 2013.