CHECK OUT THIS HUBRIS

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CHECK OUT THIS HUBRIS

• Species Reintroduction Why it is a BAD IDEA

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Reintroduction Playing Dr. Frankenstein with
Community Biology

• Does not guarantee survival of the population
• Does not necessarily re-establish keystone
  species
• Disrupts emerging ecological balance
• Frustrates natural selection and adaptation
  (fig.1)
• Does not alleviate the original cause of
  extirpation
• Extinction is a natural part of ecology.

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Mexican Gray Wolf.  A Case Study
The Mexican subspecies of gray wolf was listed
as endangered in 1976 and in 1998 the subspecies
was down to 175 animals, all in captivity. A
federal program to reintroduce the wolf in the
American southwest has run into problems similar
to those in Yellowstone.  The wolves are being
released in the Blue Range of the Apache National
Forest within the Gila Headwaters Ecosystem along
the Arizona - New Mexico border.  Of 11 wolves
released in January 1998, one was shot by a
threatened camper, three were shot by unknown
individuals, one disappeared and three had to be
recaptured because they did not adjust well to
life in the wild. The remaining three were all
males.
The Mexican Wolf is very Rar, but we are using
this stuffed plushed toy as a visual aid. See
how fierce and dangetrous this wolf can be?
The second release involved nine wolves in two
packs released in March 1998, of which four are
still in the wild.  Two more were released in
November 1998 and four more in March 1999.
Following the Yellowstone example, the livestock
industry has used a lawsuit to try to stop the
Mexican gray wolf recovery program. The industry
claims that the wolves should be removed from the
Gila Headwaters Ecosystem, because wild wolves
already exist there, and because the introduced
wolves are coyote/wolf hybrids. Federal and
academic scientists dispute both claims. 
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(fig.1)
Species Adaptation
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Hey, how about we not play God?Reintroduction is

• Expensive
• Artificial
• Politically untenable

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Hubris, Jurassic Park Moral Relativism The
Human Attitude toward Wildlife
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The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
                                

• "May we live long and die out"