The passenger pigeon, the great auk, the Tasmanian tiger--the memory of
these vanished species haunts the fight against extinction. Seeking to
save other creatures from their fate in an age of accelerating
biodiversity loss, wildlife advocates have become captivated by a
narrative of heroic conservation efforts. A range of technological and
policy strategies, from the traditional, such as regulations and
refuges, to the novel--the scientific wizardry of genetic engineering
and synthetic biology--seemingly promise solutions to the extinction
crisis.
In The Fall of the Wild, Ben A. Minteer calls for reflection on the
ethical dilemmas of species loss and recovery in an increasingly
human-driven world. He asks an unsettling but necessary question: Might
our well-meaning efforts to save and restore wildlife pose a threat to
the ideal of preserving a world that isn't completely under the human
thumb? Minteer probes the tension between our impulse to do whatever it
takes and the risk of pursuing strategies that undermine our broader
commitment to the preservation of wildness. From collecting wildlife
specimens for museums and the wilderness aspirations of zoos to visions
of "assisted colonization" of new habitats and high-tech attempts to
revive long-extinct species, he explores the scientific and ethical
concerns vexing conservation today. The Fall of the Wild is a nuanced
treatment of the deeper moral issues underpinning the quest to save
species on the brink of extinction and an accessible intervention in
debates over the principles and practice of nature conservation.
