Species Diversity
By Erik asks an interesting question:
I am a bit disturbed by this US Forest Service plan to start shooting barred owls who are pushing spotted owls out of their nesting areas. By all accounts that I have read, the barred owls have migrated to the West Coast from the Midwest without any assistance from humans. So should we intervene in this case to keep spotted owl populations up? It’s a tricky question. Humans have destroyed so many of the world’s species that if we can save some, even if they are on their way to dying out naturally, maybe we should. Perhaps some of you are aware of the fate faced by the Tasmanian devils, who have developed a genetic mutation that makes it so they can’t eat and is spread through biting, which the devils do to each other all the time. This mutation is wiping out the population of these animals very quickly. Australian scientists have quarantined some devils to hope they can rebuild the population. But by all accounts, humans have no fault in causing this to happen.
Erik ends up answering in the negative, but I answer in the affirmative. I don’t find much value in authenticity, even when applied to the natural world. If we can save tasmanian devils and spotted owls I’m all for it, even if our primary justification is aesthetic. Nonetheless, an intriguing question.