Wild animals and the future

Future generations might only see wild animals in books and as stuffed props in museums in the future if we as humans carry on the way we are going today.
At least there are some people that think that the wild animals are worth saving for future generations. I take my hat off to those that started the conservation movements and dedicated their lives to saving these amazing creatures.

One of the people whom I learned a lot from as a child was the late Jacques Cousteau. His expeditions into the underwater world gave many insight into a world very few people have seen. 

He was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-Lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française.

He made people see the ocean in a different way through education. Make people realize that the world around us consist of more than we can see. He also inspired many to follow his footsteps to learn more about the oceans and the fauna and flora of the seas. His made many documentaries and films about the ocean and it's inhabitants. Starting in 1956 up-to 1996. His final film was released in 1999, after dis death in 1997 titled Lake Baikal: Beneath the Mirror.

Through the example that he set for many years, some marine biologists now find compounds that might be to the advantage to the health of the human race. Medical breakthroughs have been made that help you and me today.

He also supported the balance of nature to be upheld. In November 1991, Cousteau gave an interview to the UNESCO Courier, in which he stated that he was in favor of human population control and population decrease. Widely quoted on the Internet are these two paragraphs from the interview: "What should we do to eliminate suffering and disease? It's a wonderful idea but perhaps not altogether a beneficial one in the long run. If we try to implement it we may jeopardize the future of our species...It's terrible to have to say this. World population must be stabilized and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. This is so horrible to contemplate that we shouldn't even say it. But the general situation in which we are involved is lamentable".

Jacques-Yves Cousteau died of a heart attack on 25 June 1997 in Paris, aged 87. He was buried in the family vault at Saint-André-de-Cubzac in France. An homage was paid to him by the city by the inauguration of a "rue du Commandant Cousteau", a street which runs out to his native house, where a commemorative plaque was affixed.

As long as we can learn from the example that he set, his legacy will live on and help to save the animals for future generations.