BigDog Speaks

Mankind is prone to be uncaring, unfeeling, and purely profit driven. No surprise that we have driven so many species to the brink of Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future by Peter D. Ward in our quest for profit.

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It is also no surprise that we wised up that there was money to be made SAVING these very same species! Soothing the conscience of the savage beast who lives in fine homes, ample disposable income, and just looking for a bandwagon to jump on. OK, we have done well, elephants, rhinos, tigers, the list goes on and on. When we pump enough dollars at a project, we get results. The places where these creatures exist have figured out the economic importance of keeping them around so their version of 'rich folks' come to see them and spread their wealth around. Wonderful, human resourcefulness and cunning at its finest. We drive an animal to the edge of extinction then we enlist the wealthy to help us bring it back. When our economy begins to sag, there is another crisis with that animal, or animals, and our fortunes rise as the do-gooders send money. What a plan! It WORKS too! NO elephant ivory...except in specific places where it commands top dollar. NO rhino horn, except where the maximum return can be gotten for it. Like ANY commodity, enough money CAN, and WILL, find what it wants. Regardless of the money spent in an effort to protect an animal, without eliminating the demand, it will ALWAYS be in danger and there will always be organizations to profit from the danger.

YES, we can be cunning, we can be gullible too. OK, we quickly reach into our pockets and throw money at these good causes because we believe they ARE good causes. We accept what we are told as truth and we send money. Enter the Komodo Dragon. Here is a nasty, disgusting creature who's only redeeming value is the tourist money it brings in. It has lived forever as a top predator, ultimately eating anything it has been able to get its deadly saliva into. We are funding research and conservation plans for this creature, fully aware that it is likely NATURE has engineered its extinction. 1 of 5 hatchlings will be female. A top heavy population of males pretty well points to decreasing numbers overall. A slow and gradual extinction, orchestrated by nature? We KNOW nature works that way and creatures evolve and survive or they slowly disappear. In the case of the Dragons, having them slowly disappear would seriously change the tourism income in that area of the world. No surprise they are mounting a big effort to prolong the species. I cannot help but wonder how many of our good intentions are not simply fueled by the prospect of money. Does the world NEED these Dragons? Are we absolutely certain we aren't interfering with natural selection that NATURE has set into motion that will lead to their demise? At what point do we stop doing good and begin getting in the way? I can't answer these questions and I'm not sure anybody can. Undoing the harm we have done to various species make sense since we know WE were/are the cause. I hardly think this logic can apply to everything. I suspect that nature will follow its own plan regardless of our meddling, but by meddling, we may very well be causing unforseen issues for the future. Perhaps it is time to take a few steps back and review the big picture. Does EVERY species deserve to be saved? Do WE know more than nature itself? I think not.

The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction by David Quammen