Why I’m Celebrating World Wildlife Day by Advocating for Animals

By Ella Magers

It’s World Wildlife Day today, a holiday created by the United Nations to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants! This day holds a special place in my heart since I know how vital wildlife has always been to keeping our planet healthy.

And there’s no doubt in my mind that observing wildlife enhances any travel experience. Sighting a group of rare penguins or being visited by an otter while paddleboarding are thrilled that no scenic landscape can top! National parks and wildlife preserves across the globe know that offering people the opportunity to witness gorgeous creatures in their natural habitats will always be a draw. In the era of ecotourism, travellers have more opportunities than ever before to see and even interact with wildlife … and now we’ve twisted that industry to the point that our compulsion to touch and feed beautiful animals is beginning to harm them.

Classic humanity, right? When we love something hard enough, admiring it from afar just won’t work. We need to be close to it, feel it, own it.

This has been the case for centuries, reaching all the way back to ancient Egypt and the very first zoo in the world, then to the menageries of France, and into the present day with the infamous Tiger King. As a lifelong animal lover and advocate (and multi-decade vegan), I first started pushing back against animals as entertainment when I was just 15 years old. As a high schooler, I started organizing and attending protests, leafleting, and tabling to educate the public about the lives that captive and trained wild animals faced. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Sea World were two of the largest companies that exploited animals back then, keeping orcas, seals and sea lions, big cats, and elephants in tiny enclosures and forcing them to clown for human audiences.

Fast forward to the year 2017, and the tireless efforts of myself and other wildlife lovers paid off: Ringling Brothers shut down due to increasing public outrage at their animal-treatment policies. And in 2023, the circus is rumored to be reopening … this time without animal acts. Finally, they’ve heard the voice of reason and compassion!

Seaworld, unfortunately, continues to hold beautiful animals captive, and breed them. Majestic marine creatures including beluga whales, dolphins, orcas, and others still suffer for the sake of human entertainment. So, as part of my work as a spokesperson for vegan living and animal advocacy, I will continue spreading awareness and educating people about the horrific consequences for sea animals who are trapped and forced to perform. If you’re not aware of the conditions and policies of Seaworld, please consider watching “Blackfish,” a hard-hitting documentary that reveals the impact of captivity on sea creatures.

I get it: that may not sound like the most uplifting way to celebrate World Wildlife Day. (So feel free to watch the film in a day or two instead!) But if we don’t protect wild animals, eventually we’ll have none of them left to celebrate. So I hope you’ll join me in the rewarding work of advocating for wildlife conservation, habitat restoration, and animal rights. If you love watching herds of wild bison roam the American plains or families of sloths peek out from jungle foliage, if you travel because you adore the wonders of our natural world, please spend a moment on World Wildlife Day doing something to keep our planet’s majestic animals safe from human harm.

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