Protecting biological communities in specific locales is a worthy goal. Saving endangered species and creating robust habitats for them to thrive is another worthy goal. These goals are not always in perfect harmony. Sometimes species have to migrate to survive and thrive. Unfortunately, between farmland, roadways, towns, cities, and other anthropogenic barriers to movement, species just don’t get around like they used to. They need help.
That’s where rewilding comes in. Rewilding is the process of reintroducing species to ecosystems they no longer inhabit (usually extirpated by humans in the Pleistocene). Obviously rewilding would need to be done very carefully.
Rewilding efforts would have to proceed incrementally, much like the progression of clinical trials: start with small lab studies and go on from there. For example, Donlan et al suggested the following steps:
1. Small programs to monitor species interactions and potential effects on biodiversity and ecosystem health.
2. Experimental maintenance on private property of small numbers of cheetahs, lions, elephants and other contemporary proxies for reintroduced species, with experts studying effects on the local ecology and biology of the species.
3. Much larger nature reserves for more reintroduced species or their proxies.
Secure fencing and 24/7 staff would keep reintroduced species within the boundaries of these projects and mitigate potential conflict with humans. Of course, there will be some escapes – just as there are with zoos.
Here’s the thing about risk, though. Everything is risky: doing something…doing nothing…being bold…being timid. You have to take a case-by-case approach and look at the types of risks, probability of risk, alternatives, trade-offs, and how well risks can be managed.
Reference:
Josh Donlan et al Pleistocene Rewilding: An Optimistic Agenda for Twenty-First Century Conservation vol. 168, no. 5 The American Naturalist November 2006, 660-681.