Rewilding is a conservation project that involves reintroducing species to areas where they had been extinct, in hopes of creating an ecosystem like the one that existed there thousands of years ago. A closely connected idea that comes from rewilding, Pleistocene rewilding, involves the reintroduction of descendants of Pleistocene megafauna or similar species.
I don’t believe that this idea is practical or ethical. Rewilding is attempting to bring back an area back to the way it was thousands of years ago, but no one can be certain as to how it was that long ago and ecosystems constantly change over time. The Pleistocene megafauna became extinct a long time ago, and in their absence, ecosystems have evolved, so the reintroduction of large mammals can have many negative effects of an ecosystem. One of the things mentioned in the chapter was that death was very important in the rewilded areas and that carcasses can attract other species to the area. This however, may not necessarily be a good thing, as the attracted areas may not belong in and adapt to the ecosystem. Take for example, the black vulture from the French reintroduction program that was killed by a train. In addition, many of the species are long gone, so proxy species are being used, which can cause even more trouble. The proxy species might not be suitable substitutes and can become invasive and harm the species already there, possibly through disease, or other factors.
Donlan argues that large mammals are less likely than other species to become invasive and that “we killed ‘em once; we can kill ‘em again.” (69) This idea that we can introduce species to an area and just kill them if they become invasive is unethical and are humans trying to play god, which as mentioned in the book, is a big criticism of rewilding. Donlan argues that we already do that, and the leap is “admitting to ourselves that we live in an intensely managed world.” (68) Rewilding however, takes human interaction and control of nature to the extreme. We would be deciding where species live and which ones live and die and because many species are extinct and “proxies” are introduced instead, it seems like we are actually creating our own, new ecosystems.
Rewilding seeks to create an ecosystem like ones that existed thousands of years ago, before humans were around, but as Marris says, “the whole place is cultivated, man-made, created.” (70) It does not make sense to try to create ecosystems of the past when the outcome is unknown and can harm the ecosystems that exist today. We should just focus and preserving the nature we have now and learn to better treat and use the tools of nature all around us.
