Save endangered animals by creating new jobs—jobs for the animals, that is!

Background:

There are a large number of animal species that are on the brink of extinction.

The Issue:

Although a few so-called “charismatic megafauna” have attracted human support with their cuteness / photograph-worthiness, many endangered species are ugly or boring (e.g. “oh look, another slightly different type of deer”).

Proposal:

What is needed is a general method for animals—even non-photogenic ones—to attract support from people and avoid extinction.

The easiest method is for these lazy endangered animals to get jobs (Figure 1)! If they had a specific niche in daily society, then people would be more likely to value them and work to ensure their preservation.

***Fig. 1:*** *Here, we can see these formerly-layabout animals put to work. Top: an elephant waters plants. Middle: a whale pulls a rowboat. Bottom: a snake clears leaves out of a drain pipe.*

Conclusion:

Now that these animals are earning their keep, maybe they will be valued by society a bit more (at least for a few decades, until robots replace them).

PROS: Increases labor participation. Adds to a country’s GDP and overall economic health.

CONS: Might be difficult to train a venomous snake to reliably clean a gutter. May provide unsettling existential questions when a person asks if a robot will also replace their job, not just the drain-cleaning-snake’s job.