Most men are ruthless
But some will still weep
When the gifts we were given are gone
John Denver

Animals have occupied a world without people but the converse is not true. Not yet, anyway.

Today, because of rapid loss of suitable habitat and rampant poaching, humanity may one day soon extinguish the last of the wild megavertebrates. We are creating a world that is hostile to wildness, that prefers concrete to natural landscapes. This will present us a future where elephants exist only in zoos, the great whales no longer fill the seas with song, and the few remaining forests are silent and managed. We will no longer know the beauty and wisdom of the four-legged, finned, and winged creatures that have always been there for us. We will inhabit a cultured world of house plants and pets, without wilderness as a link to the Garden.

Animals are our brethren, children of the great mystery and a gift from the Creator. They have a right to be here and to be free. They are our responsibility and we are failing miserably.