WhY WE NEED TO StOP DISCRIMINATING AGAINST UGLY ANIMALS

BY A STUDENT OF NATURE, JONATHAN SADLOWE

The Blobfish isn’t the prettiest fish in the sea.

With its droopy face, sad demeanor, and amorphous body, the blobfish is quite aesthetically challenged. But it’s also at risk for becoming endangered due to the destructive nature of deep-ocean trawling.

Trawling is a fishing method that involves dragging huge nets behind ships to indiscriminately gather what fish it can find. It is one of the most disastrous forms of fishing and it is putting lots of species on the endangered list.

Simon Watt, who founded the Ugly Animal Preservation Society in 2011, thinksthat too much attention has been paid to the cuddly panda and not enough effort is going toward the 100-200 species that go extinct every single day.

In most cases, these species have never even been seen or documented by scientists. That means we are forever losing biological diversity, species and variations that could one day lead to new cures, textiles, crops, or have a completely unknown potential.

When humans are at fault for endangering an animal species, there is customarily some sort of backlash and outrage in response.But until now, species like the blobfish have not received the media response nor the help and response that cuter animals are likely to get.

The blobfish’s ugly features earned it the honor of the world’s ugliest animal. It became the Society’s mascot in 2013 to give a face to the campaign that aims to save endangered species and preserve biological diversity.

The Ugly Animal Preservation Society’s mission is to raise awareness about these unsung heroes of the ecosystem, species that are ecologically important and may one day be critical for our future.