Willie Smits Quotes

Whether exotic wild animals have escaped or the owners have let them go, the problem is still there…. The damage has already been done.

It is a drastic mistake to eliminate the provisions that have to do with the protection of habitat for endangered species. It is my opinion that the Endangered Species Act is 99 percent about protecting critical habitat.

Actually I do support a charity, DefendersofWildLife.org. They help protect endangered species.

The elephant can survive only if forests survive.

Zoos should concentrate more on the preservation side of things.

I love zoo sanctuaries.

Zoo animals are ambassadors for their cousins in the wild.

Chimpanzees are endangered. Severely.

I know that Daddy had an important job. He was working to change the world so everyone would love wildlife like he did. He built a hospital to help animals, and he bought lots of land to give animals a safe place to live.

Zoos are becoming facsimiles - or perhaps caricatures - of how animals once were in their natural habitat. If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all.

After numerous generations of people dedicated to killing wolves on the North American continent, one generation devoted itself to letting wolves live.

I want to do a big donation to the pandas for all the panda lovers out there.

I fully support the goal of species protection and conservation and believe that recovery and ultimately delisting of species should be the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's top priority under ESA.

The snow leopard is absolutely magnificent. It represents really what endangered species are all about.

I don't want to see crocs end up as boots, bags and belts. We're killing and consuming our wildlife icons.

Species conversation is beyond a doubt an issue that truly matters to the American public.

Congo, my country, has the largest forest in Africa, maybe the second-largest in the world. I was born in a forest area, and when I was growing up, I assisted my uncle, who was a poacher. That was good, because it grew my passion for protecting the forest and plants.

Although biodiversity loss continues globally, many countries are significantly slowing the rate of loss by shoring up protected natural areas and the services they provide, and in expanding national park systems with tighter management and more secure funding.

Elephant populations in India and also in the whole of Asia are under severe stress. The captive ones are rendered jobless due to changes in the mode of transport and lifestyle of people. The ones in the wild are also no better off, as the forests are shrinking.

The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?

I've already made a substantial commitment to wildlife by putting my land in the easement. It won't be developed. It will remain there in perpetuity - will be there for the wildlife.

States should pass laws making it illegal to own or trade wild animals; the phony 'educational' permits that many private owners have used to skirt those laws should be eliminated.

In my perfect world, we would establish perhaps four national zoos of unimpeachable quality and close the rest of them.

China is responsible for a lot of the major conservation issues we're facing. It's the main market for rhino horn. Tigers are being killed for tiger bone wine. They're driving the tropical timber trade and illegal logging in Indonesia, and the trade in tropical reef fish.

I don't want Daddy's passion to ever end. I want to help endangered wildlife just like he did.