If not us, then who, and if not now, then when?
KAMLOOPS — There was a card game I loved playing when I was little. Each card depicted an animal and relevant information about it, including their status: a few were close to being extinct, others were listed as endangered and many were doing all right. As updated as a kids’ card game could be, the game provided an idea about some species being at risk of disappearing. It makes an impact on a child’s mind, I know that much.
That translated, among others things, in being very critical of zoos and any for-profit animal display facilities all my life. That does not include animal hospital facilities and refuges that function on donations rather than admission fees, and try their hardest to educate people about animals at risk, the environment and how humans often tilt the balance so much that it makes some species disappear from the picture altogether.
That the BC Green Party leader Andrew Weaver recently introduced Endangered Species Act Bill M225 is but a measure meant to have us take a closer look at where we stand when it comes to our surrounding world. Spoiler alert: it’s not looking great. It’s not about painting it all in apocalyptic tones, but acknowledging the truth.
The sentence that greets you as you land on the BC legislation page concerning species and ecosystems at risk reads ‘There is no stand-alone legislation in BC for species and ecosystems at risk.’ In other words, there are a few provincial and governmental laws overseeing the protection process (is there one?) but when one of the acts included in the list is Oil and Gas Activities Act (updated in 2008, as opposed to the Wildlife Act, updated in 1996,) things might be getting a bit tangled up when objective assessments are to be made.