Humans of the earth:

There have been some setbacks in our war against nature.

While we have won some battles, like those against the passenger pigeon or the once mighty Tasmanian tiger, many more need to be fought. 

But thanks to those ridiculous other humans who insist on caring about animals, we have recently lost ground. Witness the following examples: 

1. On the island of Española, in the Galapagos, giant tortoises resurged from a minimum of fifteen individuals in the 1960s to more than one thousand today.

What’s more, after years of captive breeding and reintroduction programs, the population appears to be reproducing on its own. 

2. Further north, the blue whale population off the coast of California rebounded to pre-whaling numbers. (However, this statistic comes with a pretty big caveat: globally, blue whale numbers are still around five to ten percent of historic levels.) 

3. Finally, American gray wolves may have reached the ultimate tourist destination: the Grand Canyon. 

If confirmed, this would represent the first wolf sighting in the area since the 1940s, and a huge step for a species that was extinct in the Western United States as little as twenty years ago. 

Terrifying, isn’t it? Don’t worry too much. We still appear to be in the midst of the sixth mass extinction in the history of the earth.  Nature will yet be annihilated! 

Unless those silly conservationists have their say.