A Stitch in Haste

I thought "disturbing fragile ecosystems" was a bad thing?

Scientists are proposing reintroducing large mammals such as elephants, lions, cheetahs and wild horses to North America to replace populations lost 13,000 years ago.

The scientists say that not only could large tracts of North America act as breeding sanctuaries for species of large wild animals under threat in Africa and Asia, but that such ecological history parks could be major tourist attractions.

"Africa and parts of Asia are now the only places where megafauna are relatively intact, and the loss of many of these species within this century seems likely," the team, led by Josh Donlan from New York's Cornell University, said.
...
Reintroducing the modern relatives of the Late Pleistocene losers to North America could spark fresh interest in conservation, contribute to biodiversity and begin to put right some of the wrongs caused by human activities.

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great idea — assuming of course that it is done entirely privately and voluntarily. If the Bronx Zoo wants to buy a huge chunk of South Dakota (where, incidentally, they're already slaughtering prairie dogs) and turn it into an elephant range, or if cattle ranchers determine that there's more money in cheetah-watching tours than in hamburgers, then more power to them.

What I don't understand is why, when scientists from Nature want to go around completely rearranging ecosystems to satisfy their idea of "human needs and wants," it's a neat-o idea, but when a timber company wants to cut down some (renewable) trees in the Pacific Northwest, also in the name of satisfying human needs and wants, they can't because it might, might, affect some spotted owl nests (and remember, some spotted owls are more equal than others).

Again, I absolutely love this idea. I just hate the hypocrisy of its sponsors. Ecosystems are either fragile or they're not. Private use of private land is either a good idea or it isn't.

Make up your minds.

More thoughts at Tom Rants, Jimbo.Info, Panda's Thumb. See also this Tech Central Station piece.

UPDATE: Speaking of mixing continents, where are all those "Guns, Germs and Steel" folks when a proposal like this is floated? One example: we still have germs (see also this tragic story).