Comments on: Born To Rewild

By: Alicia

Alicia — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:32:12 +0000

I actually think it could be a good idea. Maybe not with elephants, but with other smaller animals. Humans are the ones who made them disappear in the first place and we should put them back.

By: jerry

jerry — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:45:12 +0000

And just how much of North America (frankly, my United States) has the wonderful combination of space, habitat, food, and lack of human incoveniences such as towns, highways and barbed-wire fences? What farmer wants them trampling his cultivated land? Roadkill anyone? Welcome to WINTER anyone? Shortsighted, self-indulgent reporting.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:46:18 +0000

Yes, if we want to ‘re-wild’ with elephants and camels, etc., let’s not forget sabre-toothed tigers, and other such mega-predators. Seriously, looking at the re-introduction of wolves into the Northern Rockies, we’d better be careful with more tinkering.

By: Shaman

Shaman — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:16:24 +0000

The earth is pregnant and she is about to give birth. Think of the pain a woman, who does no drugs during child birth, it is painful to watch, this is whats happening to mother earth. She is heating up in the center of her core! Rejoice for her, do not let the physical world and its illusions make you worry. This happens every 65,000 years.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:00:46 +0000

Speaking of big cats and “rewilding,” does TNC have any news on the jaguar that was euthanized in Arizona after being captured and released with a radio collar?

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:10:42 +0000

In some ways, the rewilding experiment is already being done. In Texas, there are many game ranches that promise a “safari” experience. While most of these ranches focus mainly on huntable exotic antelope, some do include rhinos, cheetahs, and giraffes.

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:42:44 +0000

Oh, come on! We have enough to do with managing invasive species, protecting current native species, and controlling overdevelopment. Focus, people.

By: stella

stella — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:54:03 +0000

But maybe Pleistocene rewilding shouldn’t be so quickly dismissed.

Yes it should.

I think Pleistocene rewilding should get in line behind Holocene rewilding. Once we get that squared away, we can talk about introducing the analogs of animals that lived in North America before the last Ice Age.

We can’t just add elephants to Oklahoma and call it Pleistocene-ic. What were the predators? And their predators? We have even less of an idea how those ecosytems worked than we do of how our current ones do.

By: Ray of Hope

Ray of Hope — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:48:45 +0000

Most of our endangered species are in trouble because of loss of habitat. The government is killing wild horses to try to ensure that “native” species can survive. Do you seriously think that we have room for a bunch of imported species?

By: True North

True North — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:01:29 +0000

Playing God is dangerous… people tend to forget that THAT particular job is taken (and even if it were vacant, who’d be qaulified?) North America is having a hard enough time managing the species it already has. Reintroducing descendents of the Pleistocine era animals could lead to unseen ecological dangers. Does the phrase “cane toad” mean anything to anyone? The species that have developed in Africa, India and other parts of Asia should stay where they are.