On one hand, I get the conservationists’ point. But on the other, this is naturally the next step in wolves’ and dogs’ evolution. It’s probably happened before. And it will probably happen again. Is it really our place to interfere?
Is it really our place to interfere?
We already have, massively.
Agreed. But just because we have done a thing, or can do a thing, it doesn’t necessarily follow that we should do a thing.
That's true, the reason I mentioned it is because you asked if it's our place to interfere, prime directive style. I don't think we have a moral reason to not interfere with some¹ species in our cultivated/managed spaces. It makes a lot more sense to me to have large national parks and other conservation areas where human interference is minimized.
¹ Usually it's only some, not all. Probably because wolves, in this case, capture a lot of people's imaginations. Which is awesome, but it's also a bias some people have.
All fair points. And since we’re also part of the ecosystem, we’re inherently going to impact it and be impacted by it.
We’re also a pre-warp civilization (so far as is publicly known), so the Prime Directive applies? LLAP :)
Yeah, for most of human/dog history our populations weren't as removed from the wolf populations as they are in the modern world. I would think there was a lot of generic exchange until recently and, if this is on the rise, it's just a return to the norm.
I am not so sure about this. There used to be plenty of space for both. There was no "forced" interaction and the dog population was much smaller. So there was no genetic pressure into the wolf population, even if there were some crossovers. Now the habitation is extremely limited for wolves, getting into contact with human population is inevitable and any influx of dog genes into the wolf population has a realistic chance of forcing itself through, as seen by the hybrids making up most of the wild wolf population in many places.
In 1800 the Western European populations were at a bout half of what they are today. In Northern and Eastern Europe it was more like a quarter to a fifths of todays population. But back then there were no cars, hardly any trains, and the overall land usage was much much smaller than today.
Do you having anything at all to base this on or is it just vibes?
Ecosystem stability is a myth, change is constant. Sometimes troublesome, but this doesn't give us the right to be executioners.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The wolf, spotted deep in the woods of Italy’s Gran Bosco di Salbertrand park, was not grey like his companion, but an unusual blond.
Now hybrid numbers are rapidly growing – and if their spread continues, scientists fear they may put the European wolf – as a wild, genetically distinct animal – at risk of extinction.
“From one event, we now have several packs with hybrids,” says Luca Anselmo, a wolf tracker and researcher with Life WolfAlps EU, a multi-year, multimillion dollar initiative to support the return of wolves to Europe and reduce their conflicts with humans.
While present-day wolves and dogs are distinct sub-species, they belong to the same canine family, and have retained genetic overlap since humans began domesticating ancient wolf ancestors thousands of years ago.
They may increase conflict with humans, crowd pure-blood wolves out of their habitat, or reduce the viability of future offspring, hampering efforts to revive Europe’s wolf population.
For 25 days, Anselmo and his team pursued one hybrid, who they called Godot, along the mountain slopes, observing stringent Italian welfare laws that require them to stay within 30 minutes’ distance from the trap.
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