Rewilding is typically conceived as an act of restoration: bringing back species (or their proxies) that used to inhabit an ecosystem. Like cheetahs and mammoths (well, elephants) in North America.  It’s ok, because they used to be here. Their absence (mostly care of humans) created an imbalance in North American ecosystems – hence, rewilding is legit; rewilding is doing the proper work of environmentalists: restoring balance, restoring Eden.

To which I say: horseshit. Don’t try to make rewilding palatable by making it fit the narrative. Accept that the world has changed and cannot be unchanged. Then embrace more change. Manage change, with the aim of species survival, wherever they can survive.

To rewild can also mean to bring back wildness; doesn’t have to be the same creatures, or proxies thereof.  I say let's do it! Of course, we'll need to be very careful and monitor closely. But don't rule out rewilding as a matter of principle.