Crocodiles and Snakes Left Behind in Bangkok

Due to recent floods in Bangkok a number of aquatic animals, like crocodiles and poisonous snakes, have become trapped in the city as retreating water abandoned the animals.  These animals have terrorized some of the local residents, who in turn have become poachers (especially in regard to the crocodiles).  The local animal  control centers have been preoccupied trying to relocate these animals, and they are plagued by false alarms and poaching.
This entire situation brings up an interesting and important point-what do you do when a marine animal, capable of living on land, has been unwillingly transported out of its local habitat?  To me, relocation seems like an obvious choice, though clearly there are downfalls to this-it can be costly and dangerous.  So then the next logical option is to kill it and harvest the remains for profit-which is all good and fine if no alternative exists.  But relocation is a viable option for many of these animals (including the crocodiles) and yet the locals continue to poach.  This poaching then disrupts the swamp environment, which could possibly be devastatingly altered by the lack of crocodiles (an essential predator).  Hopefully the local officials will find and punish the poachers (an optimistic viewpoint considering how many live crocodiles are still out there) and that the remaining animals are relocated (another optimistic viewpoint-especially considering the number of extremely poisonous snakes now present in Bangkok).  Still, one can dream of such ecological awareness.

White Pox

As some of you may know, the amount of coral in the world is decreasing.  Coral is a group of microorganisms who grow on the bodies of their ancestors to form beautiful, rock-like formations which act as shelters for marine life from larger predators.  Unfortunately, in the Carribbean humans seem to be killing this wonderful organism.  Sewage has been dumped into the ocean which causes the coral pathogen known as white pox, which causes white patches on the coral which eventually spread and kill it.  In particular elkhorn coral, and endangered species which once was the most common species, is affected by this disease.  Activists are working to stop this pollution and destruction, but unfortunately their efforts are limited.  What it really comes down to is that we, as a species, strive to realize the effect which we have on the environment and actively try to protect it.  Only through this form of active thought can we ensure that our children may know the beauty of coral from something other than a picture.