Better diversity through cages (?!)

[Rick Busdiecker <rfb@lehman.com>]

[ Dear Perry, this is CYPHERpunks, not WHINERpunks.  Please resist
  the temptation to flame me for being off-topic since flaming for
  being off-topic is just as off-topic as this is.		   ]

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To: Mark Rogaski <wendigo@pobox.com>
cc: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Better diversity through cages (?!)
In-reply-to: Mark Rogaski's message of "Tue, 16 Jan 1996 00:58:49 EST."
             <m0tc4Px-000jQZC@gti.gti.net> 

    Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 00:58:49 -0500 (EST)
    From: Mark Rogaski <wendigo@pobox.com>
    
    - From the node of Timothy C. May:
    : 
    : Diversity will be enhanced by having the birds in the U.S., and
    : if left in their native jungles, most will die anyway. Better a
    : pampered tropical bird in a gilded cage than lunch for some
    : predator, or starvation as the jungles are cleared by
    : slash-and-burn farmers.
    
    Aside from the amusing belief that caged life is preferrable, let
    me point out that importation of species can be pretty nasty.
    Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, Mongooses in Hawaii, those nasty
    snakes from Guam ... etc, etc.

Good point.  If you view nature as a market system of survival
capital, trying to seriously alter it rather than just living off of
it is asking for trouble.  This is true for command economy
governments, slash-and-burn farmers, and species importers.  Nature
(the market) will continue, but the meddlers (humans) are risking
their chance to be players.

Two more reasons why the better-diversity-through-cages
is weak:

 - many (most?) species tend not to reproduce in captivity.
 - most illegal imported animals die in transit.

The tropical bird has better odds of survival against the predator and
starvation than it has against smugglers and gilded cage operators.
If you consider the odds of reproducing, they're *much* better with
the predator and starvation than with the smugglers and cagers.

			Rick

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