Mankind needs to not beat itself up so much. You can only do so much about the people who just don't care about animals (they will hunt the rare and exotic, treat them poorly, ect.), and there have been plenty of success stories. Besides, it wouldn't be the end of the world if it went extinct in the wild, it will still exist in captivity as a reminder of what once was. Animals went extinct before humans had world-wide influence.
In the end, they're still just animals. We try to help them from going extinct because they can't help themselves, and as our responsibility as fellow inhabitants of this planet, and in exchange we eat, hunt, and keep them as pets. Sounds fair enough to me, especially since animals hunt and eat without protecting the welfare of other species.
