Conservation - what for?

These days, I am receiving stacks of letters from charities, all asking for getting support for their programmes. Most of these are supporting fellow humans who suffer from appalling conditions (usually created by other humans). But some are focused on non-human life, mostly domesticated or wild animals, which they are committed to save from maltreatment or outright extinction.

The latter often use what they consider a non-refutable argument for supporting their work: we must protect this or that species or habitat in order to allow our kids and future generations to enjoy these awesome treasures of nature.

I perfectly understand the rationale. But I disagree. The wonders of the living world don't exist to please us. And we should not protect them in order to please future generations of humans. We should not even do it because our own species (often unknowingly) relies on the essential ecosystem services they provide. We should protect them and ensure their survival because they are values in their own right. Life that wants to live, just like us — based on the exact same rationale that we use when demanding freedom from suffering and evil.

Let's save other life from the threats that humans pose to its survival because other life is just as precious as ours. It needs no admiration from a future human audience. All it needs is respect. And maybe the understanding that species lost will never ever be back.