As scientists continue to spend money, time and resources on bringing back species, some people are concerned about what the effects of this could be. From twisting the truth to whether they are harmful to humans or simply irrelevant, some of the people at LHS believe they should not be brought back.
Though scientists have been able to modify some of the genes of a species, this doesn’t bring back an extinct species completely. Nellie Walthery, a biology teaching assistant at LHS, thinks that the truth behind science is being changed throughout the media and other sources.
“There’s a difference between cloning an individual from a long-extinct species and editing a set of genes of an existing animal,” Walthery said. “What they have done with genetic engineering is undeniably a big deal, and they’ve been putting it to use in conservation efforts for the red wolf, which they should get credit for. But the approach from Colossal regarding the announcement has enough misleading elements to make me wary of taking much of what they say at face value.”
For some students, the main problem is wondering how these complex organisms can be introduced into the world today.
“I think that they shouldn’t bring them back because we don’t know how they would react towards humans,” junior Esther Noel said. “They shouldn’t bring certain animals back because they can be dangerous. I think it can be quite a risk, but at the same time, it can help certain environments.”
Aside from all the worries about safety, some might think that the main problem with this is that there are tasks of greater importance. For example, taking care of other animals and habitats that need more assistance.
“I think that a lot of time and effort could go into de-extinction projects when we have so many living species that would benefit from that type of time, money and attention,” Walthery said. “I don’t think that it should be where our priorities are at.”
It seems like for students, a main concern is the negative effects genetic engineering displays, mainly the question of whether or not the animals would wildly prey on humans.
“I think they shouldn’t be brought back. It could have a negative effect on us as these organisms could make the human population decrease,” freshman Mia Sanchez said. “The dire wolf being brought back is okay because it is just like any other wolf species in my opinion, and if they were to add any more animals, they should bring back the dodo bird. It seems harmless and small.”
There aren’t just negative effects, some might push for these projects since there are situations where genetic engineering is useful to environments in which the extinct animal took a large role.
“I do think some projects that are interested in more recently extinct species can be pretty compelling, especially if their absence has left an ecological niche unfilled.” Walthery said. “But at the same time, we have plenty of conservation efforts that look to reintroduce keystone species – these being species that have a large effect on many aspects of their ecosystems – to their historical ranges, and those are anything but easy.”
