Playing god
Tuesday, 15 August 2006
More Chihuly from ABG, 2004.
We hear about imminent extinctions from logging, bulldozing, and other land-altering activities. Here’s another. And the extinction, while due to human intervention, is not moderated by being a side-effect of some other behaviors—here, the intent was extinction. You see, some species are parasites of other species, and when the last wild whatever gets put in the safe-keeping hands of a jailer (aka conservationist, zoo-keeper, veterinarian), any attendant parasites will probably be obliterated in the interests of the health of the whatever. Since they’re a niche species, poof, no more parasites. And a species is gone. Extinct.