Hello, Steemians!

I don't mean to start the day off ranting about something. I really don't.

But I wasn't intending to scroll through my Facebook feed to see that the last northern white rhino male had died either. I know, why do I even bother with Facebook? I'm not sure. But, this news was on there nonetheless.

Now there are only two females left of this species. They are under armed guard at a conservatory, but they are thought to be the last of their species, obviously, since the male died.

Image Source

This is a picture of Sudan, the last male of his species.

Before we go any further with this, just take a minute and really look at this picture. Just appreciate the beauty and magnificence of this creature. This rhino was 45 years old.

Many of us are aware that rhinos and elephants are endangered, and we hear about it so much that we almost become desensitized to it. We start to think of elephants and rhinos as a "thing" instead of a living being. Instead of a someone. Well Sudan was a someone, and so are all of the other rhinos and elephants. They have the same desire as us to live and communicate.

You can also tell the person in this picture really cares about the rhino. They have to keep the rhinos under armed guard at the conservatory in order to keep them from getting poached.

Rhinos are actually very smart, emotional, and social animals. They can be trained very much like dogs can be.

Image Source

There are only about five species of rhinos left, including the northern white rhino. The northern black rhino was declared extinct back in 2013. All of the species left are on the endangered list.

Aside from the fact that it's just wrong on so many levels that people have poached rhinos to the brink of extinction, if they go completely extinct, the results won't be good for the ecosystem or for humans either.

People always want to focus on arguing over politics, or what's in the "news", or what's in the "fake news", or Russia, or what celebrities are doing, or fear mongering over dumb stuff. If we don't focus on our environment, and on the ecosystem, and actually making the world better, NONE OF THAT STUFF WILL MATTER.

I'm not talking about global warming either. That's another discussion entirely, and I largely think the whole idea of that is being used against us too right now.

Rhinos are considered a "keystone species" and play a very important role in the ecosystem. If they were to go extinct, it would disrupt the balance of the whole environment. They play a critical role by just grazing on the grasslands, which sustain various other species. The rhinos increase the biodiversity of their ecosystem by selectively choosing which plants to eat and which plants to leave, and give more space to grow. This creates a chain effect which obviously effects the whole food chain as the plants are the base source of food-- even the meat eaters benefit from plants because meat eaters eat plant eaters. Without rhinos, a whole bunch of other species will start to have problems because the food chain would be out of whack. Read more on that here.

But much like with honeybees, people seem to have this thing which makes them think there are no consequences for their actions ever. Well, I will give you a newsflash, there are consequences. Most likely the future generations and the environment will be the ones facing those consequences, not the people that actually cause them.

Image Source (you can ignore the news article. I'm not posting it for that, I'm posting it for the picture).

I'm sorry, but this is a topic that really infuriates me.

Actually, no. I'm not sorry. This should infuriate everyone.

Ok, sorry. I'm not trying to infuriate you.

Contrary to how it might seem, I'm really not trying to infuriate you. I'm just trying to spread some knowledge about these beautiful beings, because what is being done to them infuriates me. And I try not to let it, but on a level it does. It doesn't do any good to stay in that space about it though, which is why I can't continue to focus on topics like this a lot of the time; because there is only so much a person can do. Staying focused on something that's upsetting that you can't change doesn't help anyone.

I think more people should care about this though. Not necessarily be enraged about it all the time, but care about it.

And yeah, want to know what really gets me going on a bender about this? When I see pictures of trophy hunters and poachers, who are ALREADY RICH standing arrogantly over what was once a beautiful, living being. I will spare you the pictures of them, because they won't do any good and they are just upsetting. Instead, I am trying to share the beautiful pictures of these creatures with you, to show you why they are worth saving.

I know, there are things that are wrong all over the world. There are homeless people, starving people, and injustices (is that a word?) of all sorts.

So why focus on the animals?

Well, I look at it this way. The animals didn't ask for this. They are the victims of many generations of human ignorance (and arrogance) and just outright blatant destruction of everything around them. Yes, there are people that didn't ask for any of this either. But some of us really have to stand up and be a voice for these animals if we are going to change it before every species on the planet other than humans are extinct.

Image Source Sudan was being kept under armed guard from protection from the poachers. The females are still under armed guard.

So how can Steemit help be a solution to this?

I think steemit has a lot of potential, in a lot of different areas. One reason that elephants and rhinos are poached is because people get money from the ivory and skins, and because they need that money to feed their families. There is a whole system of screwed-up-edness here, but I think steemit can help.

Steemit gives people a way to earn value, based on the value that they put in. Not only can steemit be used to spread awareness for these animals, but perhaps for people who would otherwise turn to poaching to put food on their table. If most people see a solution that doesn't involve harming other living beings, don't you think they'd choose it? I like to think so.

I mean obviously there are people who just don't care, who are selfish, and actually take joy in killing living beings for pleasure and money. But not all of them are doing it for that reason.

Each of us individually, can make our own difference to help stop this. We can start by supporting companies that we know are ethical and don't support this kind of thing. We can start by supporting local businesses, instead of mega corporations who benefit from this. We can start by spreading awareness, for the animals and for the people.

This is a tee-shirt I designed to help spread awareness for the rhinos. Here is a link to it.

Well, what do you think Steemians? I know it wasn't the happiest, peachiest post ever. But hopefully it gives you a good insight into why we need to protect rhinos and other animals, and why spreading awareness for them is vital. If you find this valuable, and want to help spread awareness too, please resteem this!

Read more about this topic here, here, and here.

Until next time!

For more feel free to check out my website!

Also, I am working on launching my own web design business. As a student building my portfolio I can give you a really great deal on a website. If you or anyone you know needs a website feel free to contact me! Will accept payments in STEEM :)

Until next time,

~Zoey