“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Dr. Ian Malcolm – Jurassic Park
Yesterday Colossal Biosciences announced they had cloned and produced three “Dire Wolves”, a species long extinct, think since the ice age! As you can imagine the internet blew up with people heralding this science experiment as groundbreaking and others bemoaning it as a waste of time and resources that could have been better spent curing cancer.
The project cost $10.2 Billion and funding was supported by groups such as American Wolf Foundation and Save the Elephants as well as the indigenous MHA Nation who hopes that Dire Wolves can live on their land in North Dakota.
My first thought . . Why?
What is the point of genetically modifying a grey wolf with some Dire Wolf DNA and claiming you’ve done something marvelous?
My point is this, with all the issues in this world; starving kids, disaster relief, genocide, chronic illness, take your pick. . . Why waste money, to the tune of almost $11 Billion, on a cloning project? What’s the purpose? Dire Wolf reintroduction?
Ah, perhaps that’s it!
If they can genetically modify enough of these Frankenstein wolves they can begin putting them in places where they once supposedly lived to control burgeoning populations of ungulates like deer, elk and bison.
I can picture it now, wolves that are 25% larger than modern grey wolves roaming the landscapes of rural North America (we can’t have them around human population centers) decimating livestock and stripping the public of valuable wildlife resources all in the name of science.
We’ve seen this movie before, both on the big screen and in real life with Colorado’s debacle of a wolf reintroduction. So excfuse me if I don’t spill my beverage helping the folks at Colossal Biosciences pat themselves on the back.
What’s next? Woolly mammoths? I kid you not… that’s exactly the plan!
4 comments
I hate the introduction of wolves anywhere in the USA and believe this is the plan that leaf lickers have come up to stop all hunting. What’s next the T Rex? A bigger wolf just makes a bigger target.
This is an ecological disaster in the making. The implication for future generations is frightening. You know the “leaf lickers” will fight to have these protected under federal law. What we don’t need is another apex predator. I’m in my 70’s so I don’t think I’ll live long enough to have my hunting area impacted by the re-introduction of this species. I do worry about my grandsons, though. I also agree with the folks who say for $10 billion we could have made great strides in medical research whether its cancer or diabetes. Pathetic, misplaced priorities.
If it was $10 billion, then I agree…that was an idiotic way to waste those resources. They went extinct in the Stone Age. Evolution occurs and some species don’t survive for good reasons.
I thought you were joking but then I did an internet search. Well great maybe we can reintroduce the shortfaced bear so the wolves will have company. Massive waste of money and time when there are so many pressing issues in this world.