It's good to see conservationists admit that their task is mostly killing. Too often people confuse conserving a species with being nice to animals. They're diametrically opposite ambitions. Conservationists sometimes try to tap into our "don't kill cute animals" feeling to support their cause, but have to do a 180 when it doesn't suit.
I once proposed to someone that the best way to prevent whales being killed was to kill them all. It's surely true, they can't be hunted if they're never even born. But his response was "you have no morals". Actually conservationism is an activity without morals.
> I once proposed to someone that the best way to prevent whales being killed was to kill them all. It's surely true, they can't be hunted if they're never even born. But his response was "you have no morals". Actually conservationism is an activity without morals.
Okay...
But I'm pretty sure a conservationists goal is not to make species go extinct.
There is a long run goal which is the survival of as many species and habitats as possible. Being nice animals is not diametrically opposed with being a conversationist, nor would a conversationist actually argue for killing all whales unless it had greater benefits for ocean ecosystems as a whole. You're ignoring the long-term consequences and only focusing on the actions themselves in calculating moral utility.
Wiping out the species you're trying to save is obviously ludicrous. The point of this article is that rats (which are dead common in practically all corners of the world) pose an enormous threat to lots of unique species and ecosystems, and controlling rats is necessary if you want to preserve those unique species and ecosystems.
Spreaking large amounts of poison to do that, certainly makes me quite uncomfortable. But I'm no conservationist, so I can't really judge whether that's ultimately a good or bad idea.
I once proposed to someone that the best way to prevent whales being killed was to kill them all. It's surely true, they can't be hunted if they're never even born. But his response was "you have no morals". Actually conservationism is an activity without morals.