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Roan Grace

Emma Boone

Liz Cartwright

Science

03 May 2019

Animal Habitat Loss

Animals are losing their homes every day because of city development, leaving them

with nowhere to go. The problem that I am going to discuss today is the loss of wildlife habitat.

This is a global wide issue that is affecting humans as well. Animal habitats are being negatively

affected every day by urban city growth. They have lost their habitats due to deforestation, city

development, and climate change. It’s important people start taking measures to help animals by

building wall gardens, locking up trash and keeping parks safe.

Animals have no habit to live in they start to migrate to the city. As a quote from Popular

Science states.

“Suburban coyotes, like the pack in a residential area a few miles from O'Hare airport in

Chicago, have learned to live in much smaller territories than they do in rural places. Downtown

coyotes, which roam among the towers and traffic of the Chicago Loop, thrive in the city by

hunting enough small rodents to feed themselves and their young. Some urban coyotes have even

been spotted crossing streets in busy traffic—at the light, looking both ways, just like human

Chicagoans.” (Popular Science)

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There have been many more animals attacks in cities from the 2000s because animals have had

to live in cities their unnatural habitat. The graph below it telling you how much of the land is

urban in the US. Based on this graph you can also tell that the rural areas are decreasing leaving

animals to move into cities. From around 1820 to 2018 there have been over 40 fatal wolf attacks

on humans, before 1820 there were almost none. Animals have been affected by losing their

homes and having to rely on humans for them to survive. They steal food from cites, dig in trash

cans, and lived in city neighborhoods. They have started to live like humans.

The impact that animals habitat loss has on humans are major, people just haven't

realized it yet. If the Honey Bee population were to go to extinct then there would be no animals

to pollinate the trees and plants leaving them to die off slowly causing our oxygen supply to

diminish. Animals are going extinct every day due to deforestation and habitat loss and without
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animals, it will make it very hard for the human population to stay alive. This graph below is

showing how many people live in an urban population and the more the population goes up the

fewer animals have a place to live. From the book Rewilding,

“Sometimes a park in a city can burn to leave animals to have to move through the city to try and

find a new home” ( Drake & Love 59).

This quote is also talking about how habitat loss affects us as well as animals because without

parks we also don’t get to go out outside in nature and animals migrate into the city, affecting

how we and they live.

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https://www.picsunday.com/p/Polar-Bear-Greenpeace-Advertisement.html

There are many different ways people are trying to help animals with their habitats in

cities. For example, in Canada, they have made animals freeways because so animals can cross

the freeway without getting hurt. Another example of ways people have helped animals is by

making wall gardens in urban locations. If there is no room for a garden on the ground the people

grow a garden on a wall to make potential habitats for birds and other animals. As a quote from

Rewilding states,

“Wild rooftops, wild walls, and wild freeways are places where people have plants trees and

plants so they can grow and make homes for wild animals that live in cities.” ( Drake & Love

57.)

Other ways that I think people can help animals is by making sure trash is locked up at night and

anywhere that you can plant trees or flowers make sure that you are taking those chances and

helping the birds and the bees. There are many things that we can do to help animals because
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without animals, there would be no world or future.

http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/4-features-add-flawless-finish-building/
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https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/30/mexico-city-via-verde-vertical-gardens-poll

ution-climate-change

The issue that I talked to you about is wildlife habitat loss, ​Animal habitats are being

negatively affected every day by urban city growth. They have lost their habitats due to

deforestation, city development, and climate change. It’s important people start taking measures

to help animals by building wall gardens, locking up trash and keeping parks safe. Today you

learned about the impact habitat loss has and humans and wildlife and how people are trying to

help solve this problem. Our human population as a whole needs to make some changes so that

our wildlife can survive, then allowing us to live and thrive as well.
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Works Cited

Wwf.panda.org. (2019). ​Impact of habitat loss on species.​ [online] Available at:

http://wwf.panda.org/our_work/wildlife/problems/habitat_loss_degradation/

[Accessed 23 Apr. 2019].

​Holt, Steve. “Where Do Urban Animals Go When Their Habitats Disappear?” ​Citylab,

The Atlantic Monthly Group, November 16th, 2017,

https://www.citylab.com/environment/2017/11/where-do-urban-animals-go-

when-their-habitats-disappear/546002/.

​Coey, Julia. ​Animal Hospital: Rescuing Urban Wildlife​. Firefly Books, 2015.

Drake, Jane, and Ann Love. ​Rewilding: Giving Nature a Second Chance.​ Annick Press,

2017.

Coles, Jeremy. “Earth - How a City Can Save Its Wildlife.” ​BBC,​ BBC, 31 July 2015,

​www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150731-how-a-city-can-save-wildlife​.

Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser. “Urbanization.” ​Our World in Data,​ 13 June 2018,

ourworldindata.org/urbanization.
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Lou, Mary, and Shovova. “Bridges for Animals to Safely Cross Freeways Are Popping

Up Around the World.” ​My Modern Met​, 9 Feb. 2017,

mymodernmet.com/wildlife-crossings/.

Mahoney, John. “Why Wild Animals Are Moving Into Cities, And What To Do About It.”

Popular Science,​ 19 Dec. 2012,

www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-12/why-wild-animals-are-moving-cities-

and-what-do-about-it​.

“Category: Deaths Due to Animal Attacks in the United States.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia

Foundation, 6 Aug. 2017,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deaths_due_to_animal_attacks_in_the_United_Stat

es.

IMAGES

http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/4-features-add-flawless-finish-building/

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/oct/30/mexico-city-via-verde-vertical-gardens-poll

ution-climate-change

https://www.picsunday.com/p/Polar-Bear-Greenpeace-Advertisement.html