Reintroduce Megafauna to North America?

sneakers563 writes "A team of scientists is 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 parks could be set up as breeding sanctuaries for species of large wild animals under threat in Africa and Asia, and 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 said."

Comments

They Want You Dead

[eno2001]

Early in this comment thread some people have mentioned the possibilities of human deaths. That is EXACTLY the point. We are quickly approaching Earth's maximum estimated carrying capacity (think of it as the biological equivalent of how many amps an electrical circuit can carry before the breaker shuts off) for human living conditions in it's current form. What happens after that? Mass famine. Die offs. Wars. We're already seeing some of this but it only affect those who are further down the socioeconomic ladder so many of us don't think it's an issue.

However, there are some people way up high on the socioeconomic ladder who are well aware of this and have created think tanks (Project for the New American Century, for example) that ARE addressing this issue. However, they aren't addressing it in the most humanitarian way. They are taking the pragmatic route that a good chunk of the human population needs to die in order to restore some balance and protect their own interests. This is why wars are being encouraged, and people are being recruited from the poorest neighborhoods in America. What easier way to rid the planet of extra people than throwing them into the meat grinder? More to the point, who better to get rid of than those who are a burden on society rather than contributors? Will you ever hear this outright? No. It's too awful to comprehend, but it's their view.

The humanitarian view would be this: Establish worldwide controls to cut down on excessive use of resources for everyone. This means that YOU would have to give up your car, your computer, your cell phone, all of your electronic entertainment. It would mean that YOU would have to use mass transit if you live more than ten miles away from where you work. It would mean that YOU have to WALK to work if you live within ten miles of your job. It would mean that the internet would have to be pared down greatly in terms of bandwidth, processing power and electricity usage. It would mean that we would have to audit all natural resource usage to verify that it is, in fact, justified and heavily tax anything that isn't. It would mean that we would have to pack more people into living spaces than we currently do, likely in communal fashion.

Based on those two approaches being the only options, the people who currently stand to lose a lot are more likely to be in favor of the approach that impacts them the least, and so war it is. In large part, YOU did this. And so did I. It doesn't matter if you are pro-war or pro-peace, if you drive a car, YOU did this. If you use more electrical appliances than you really should or even most electrical appliances, YOU did this. If you eat out at big box restaurants, YOU did this. If you pay more than $2.00 a month on your electric bill, YOU did this. So where do we go from here? There is already one group who has decided what to do to solve this problem. What do we do on our part?

Re:What about wolves, bison, eagles?

[Snar Bloot]

Bison look like hairy cows with dreadlocks. They are slow moving, typically boring, and will eat hay out of your hand if you stick it through the fence. Not much fun for tourists.

Well, your first sentence is correct. But every year people are gored and occasionally killed when they wander too close to free ranging bison.

http://www.bhcycling.com/2ndtouristgored.html

They run 40 MPH, turn on a dime, and certainly seem to be fun for the hordes of tourists in Custer State Park, Wind Cave, and Yellowstone.

Re:Where to put roaming lions?

[Begossi]

"So many Christians, so few lions..."