The world’s wildlife is under threat.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature’s Living Planet Index, which monitors populations of over 3,000 vertebrates, has decreased 52 percent over the last 40 years, and a report in the journal Nature in December found that 26 percent of mammals had become endangered.

Many countries and animal organizations strive to conserve animals, and the immense financial backing of billionaires can have a huge impact on their efforts.

These superrich are at the forefront of protecting endangered animals not just out of their own goodness, but also because a diverse ecosystem is beneficial for humanity as well as their livelihoods.

Carlos Slim

Carlos Slim, chairman and CEO of telecommunications companies Telmex and America Movil, donated $100 million to the Worldwide Fund for Nature. The WWF recently caused a splash in Korea with their “1600 Panda +” project.

Most of Slim’s donations were used to preserve monarch butterflies and jaguars, both of which are endangered. Slim said that the two species were part of Mexico’s great heritage and predicted that preserving them would provide cultural and economic assistance to Mexico in the future.

Monarch butterflies are best known for migrating from the United States and Canada to Mexico every year in late summer, but are threatened due to herbicides killing off milkweed, their source of food. The population of monarch butterflies has decreased by 95 percent, from over 1 billion to only 35 million.

Meanwhile, there are about 15,000 jaguars left in the world, including around 500 jaguars in Mexico.

Ted Turner

American media mogul Ted Turner, who runs a large farm in New Mexico, has been running a breeding program for gray wolves, which mainly live near the border between New Mexico in the United States and Mexico.

The number of wolves decreased dramatically after the United States and Mexico carried out an extermination project in the 1930s.

Turner himself has been breeding wolves near his farm for 17 years. As a result, the total gray wolf population has grown to about 100.

Yao Ming

Former Chinese basketball star Yao Ming now works as a philanthropist 
and financial investor. Yao, who is known to be fond of animals, has been carrying out a campaign to conserve rhinos with animal conservation foundation WildAid. Yao also filmed a documentary in August 2012 on the white rhinoceros.

He is an ambassador for giant panda conservation, and has urged the Chinese public not to eat shark’s fin soup to protect endangered sharks.

Howard Buffett

Howard Buffett, the eldest son of Warren Buffett, recently donated $24 million to the Kruger National Park in South Africa through his foundation. The donated funds are to be used to purchase helicopters and hot air balloons to detect elephant and rhinoceros poachers.

By The Korea Herald Superrich Team (sangyj@heraldocorp.com)

Kwon Nam-keun, Hong Seung-wan, Sung Yeon-jin, Bae Ji-sook, Yoon Hyun-jong, Min Sang-seek, Kim Hyun-il, Sang Youn-joo