Wildlife Politics all around us

One of the themes of my book is that wildlife politics will become more and more prominent as wildlife are increasingly threatened and become an integral part of global politics. This was exemplified when I opened read the Wall Street Journal in the past two days which contained 3 fascinating examples of how wildlife issues become political: 
(1) One is an article by Kate O'Keefe on how China uses pandas in diplomacy and negotiations and how they hinted they might send a panda to Nebraska based on the outcome of a trade deal--though the Nebraska zoo official now believes they were never serious about sending a panda to Nebraska.  Read O’Keefe, Kate. Pandas Are Adorable! (Also a Tool for Chinese Geopolitical Domination).
Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2017. Accessed 3/37/17 from https://www.wsj.com/articles/dont-like-china-no-pandas-for-you-1490366939?tesla=y

(2) In two cases, the recovery of species (manatees in Florida and sharks in Australia) has led to controversies over the protections offered these species now that their numbers are recovering a bit.  In Florida, some local people want restrictions lifted such as on dock construction that might affect manatees while other people have a vested interest in protecting the manatees due to their love for them or their business based on "manatee tourism."  Read ampo-Flores, Arian. Manatees split florida community. Wsj. March 24, 2017.  Accessed 3/27/17 from https://www.wsj.com/articles/manatees-divide-a-florida-community-1490347808
 
(3) In Australia, there has been a recovery of shark numbes (to some degree) and shark attacks on humans have escalated and Australia is looking for ways of preventing the attacks and tracking sharks. Read Pannett, Rachel. 2017.After Protecting Sharks, New Pressure to Protect Humans.wsj. march 26. Accessed 3/27/17 from https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-protecting-sharks-new-pressure-to-protect-humans-1490526003

Overall, these stories show the salience of wildlife politics and demonstrates that politics can result when their numbers go down because they are threatened but also become prominent when they start recovering due to inconvenience and/or threats to humans.