Lions and tigers and bears — hell yes! I was asked by a reporter about whether we should rescue populations that have become so small that theres a risk of their becoming inbred and going extinct. Based on work I was honoured to be able to do for Everglades National Park with colleague Sonny Bass on the Florida panther, heres an excerpt from my reply. Conservation biologist Stuart Pimm said that model may become the norm for preserving fragile species in our expanding human world. He recalled the reintroduction and rescue of Florida panthers in the Everglades over the past two decades. “There was a lot of discussion about whether to allow it to go extinct, and whether we could rescue the population genetically,” Pimm said. “That was a really controversial and carefully thought-out intervention, yet they’re probably going to have to do it again every 40 or 50 years. That’s probably going to be inevitable.” And it’s a cost Pimm said he’s willing to bear to keep such animals as part of our world. “These populations aren’t going to make it otherwise, and it would be an enormous tragedy if grizzly bears and wolves and mountain lions were absent from the landscape. These ecosystems developed in the presence of large predators. I’m first-generation American, and I remember watching the ‘Wizard of Oz’ for the first time with my two daughters – ‘Lions and tigers and bears/ Oh my!’ Whatever the ecological argument I might make, it’s a spiritual thing how we pass on our rich natural heritage. I want to be able to take my grandchildren to see elk and grizzlies and other spectacular wildlife.” missoulian/news/local/biologists-look-for-ways-to-preserve-grizzlies-as-feds-consider/article_441e3c1c-0a0a-11e4-900f-0019bb2963f4.html
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 18:24:49 +0000
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