Many familiar species, such as mammoths, thylacine, and passenger pigeons, have disappeared from the planet, some due to species competition or environmental changes, others due to human activities. Their extinction was once thought to be irreversible, but with the rapid development of genetic engineering technology, scientists have found that it is possible to resurrect these extinct animals through “De-extinction” biotechnology. Currently, no previously extinct species has been successfully resurrected. (2017)Scientists estimate that the technology holds the promise of a milestone breakthrough within the next few decades. (2017)Although the technology is still far from being ready for use, the potential problems it may cause have already caused widespread concern in society. In Tyler J. Kasperbauer’s article “Should We Bring Back the Passenger Pigeon? The Ethics of De-Extinction,” he summarizes 5main challenges for “De-extinction” biotechnology. I will selectively discuss the first, second, and the fifth challenge.

1)Species resurrected by anti-extinction techniques may become extinct again for the same reason.
2)There is potential for resurrected species to become invasive.
3)The dilemma between resilience and reversibility.
4)Bringing back only one species may not provide meaningful ecosystem services.
5)Ethical Challenges

Taylor believes that one of the biggest causes of the extinction of the traveling pigeon is human hunting practices. Many people consider them to be pest birds, and if they are resurrected, they will probably be hunted again. (2017)If certain human activities led to some species’ extinction, then we should be prepared to ensure that these behaviors do not occur again before resurrecting the species. I believe the human overhunting problem is relatively easy to solve with better laws, more effective hunting regulations, and more education. We should carefully consider resurrecting species that have become extinct due to habitat loss or climate change. Species that extinct due to environmental reasons may be less suitable for resurrection using anti-extinction techniques, as recreating the right Living Environment for them may be very difficult or costly.

Secondly, he points out that the resurrected species may become invasive. After the extinction of the traveling pigeon, its place in the ecosystem has been taken by other species. Suppose the pigeon population was to be revived and released， it will undoubtedly affect other animals in the ecosystem that share the same food source as the pigeon and even leading to the extinction of other endangered species. In the past, as many as five billion passenger pigeons lived in the United States. If the cloned pigeon population could be increased to a level similar to that of the original, the natural balance disturbance would be unimaginable. Maybe we will need to hunt to control passenger pigeons’ population, as ironic as it may sound since human hunters exterminated them.

In the fourth challenge, he brings up a popular misconception that I think is critical to De-Extinction technology. A common argument is that resurrecting extinct organisms can conserve diversity and restore stability to declining ecosystems, which is inaccurate. Given the large population size of passenger pigeons, their resurrection could significantly increase or decrease the stability of the ecosystem. In most cases, however, a single species cannot significantly affect the stability of an ecosystem. (2017)If the goal is to increase environmental stability and species diversity, it is essential to consider bring back numbers of associated species together. But doing so tends to increase the risks associated with De-Extinction significantly.

Finally, We still have many questions to answer before we can resurrect the traveling pigeon. I believe that there are many limitations and side effects to the use of De-Extinction techniques. Protecting species diversity requires more consideration of how to protect currently endangered species and environmental stability. If we try to protect the environment through technology that brings back extinct species, it’s likely to be half the results with double the effort.

-Dengnan Chen

Reference:
T. J. Kasperbauer (2017) Should We Bring Back the Passenger Pigeon? The Ethics of De-Extinction, Ethics, Policy & Environment, 20:1, 1-14, DOI: 10.1080/21550085.2017.1291831