If we could, should we?

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I watched a rerun of "Jurrasic Park" a few weeks back, and while crow hunting last week got to thinking about another movie re: cloning, i.e. "The Boys from Brazil", and then I got to thinking.....what if we could bring back extinct species via DNA manipulation?
While I don't think that anyone wants to bring back Adolf Hitler (there are enough Hitler-esque types around as it is) or a T-Rex (or worse, a T-Rex/Hitler hybrid!), what about species that have become extinct directly as a result of man's involvement. I'm thinking of species such as the passenger pigeon, Labrador duck, and heath hen. There may be other species out there (black footed ferret?) that might be included.
We've seen the negative effects of bringing back species from the brink of extinction....look at what the wolves have been doing to the elk populations around Yellowstone and upper Michigan, or the protection of alligators. But then again, man's involvement (i.e. no plan as to what to do if the species gets out of control/too populated) has more to do with it than anything.

Could there be some possible benefit to bringing back such species, something like possibly filling a niche that has been taken over by an invasive species? I don't know for sure, but it is possible.

I'm sure that there are ways to get such DNA, such as feathers/study skins that are sitting in collections in areas such as the Smithsonian.

So....what do you think? Should we try and bring back species that went extinct directly due to man's involvement (not natural causes), or leave well enough alone.

I look forward to your comments.

[jon lynn]

Where is the abstain choice

It seems like a good way to go, but I am sure it would create more problems than solve. Because we probably still need, or there is a high demand for what wiped them out anyway.

[skeet]

I voted no..mainly because it seems most of the feel gooders that want to get involved in these types of endeavours seem to want to control people(us the hunters) rather than manage the critters. They have to manipulate for their own "political agendas" If they were able to bring back the passenger pigeon for instance..do you think that you would ever be able to hunt doves again?? Us dumb hunters would not be able to tell the difference you know!!?? And truly..the wolf "re-introduction" was actually no such thing. Then they put wolves on an endangered species list when they are not anywhere near endangered..Good grief..the whole mess has gotten out of control.. To the detriment of other animals.. Look at the devastation that has occured to so many animals in the name of NOT wearing fur. So many of the fur bearing animals are predators..that prey on many critters we hunt. As an example foxes coons possums etc have devastated the quail in the South and East as has the protection of the raptors. Yes there are other reasons too, but... There is always a reaction for every action taken..many times things not even dreamed of

[Rapier]

Nope, gone is gone for a reason, lets not muck with the system. It is survival and that is how survival works. Some AH in an apartment in NY City wants wolves, they can have all the wolves they can take care of and feed, right in their apartment. Fool with my business and it is pat, pat, pat, I am the top of the food chain in my woods.

Yeah tho I walk through the valley I shall fear no evil for I am the baddest mother in the valley.
Ed

[FromBearCreek]

Hell yeah. I want to go mammoth hunting.

[wrenchman]

mine was yes i want to no if raptors taste like chicken

[skeet]

Y'all can do whatever ya want..but if'n it's a predator kinda animal..oh hell..any kind..don't turn 'em loose in Wyoming.. Not even a blasted heath hen er passenger pigeon or a Wooley Mammoth Nothin..the darn gummit would want to shut all huntin down then

[Larryjk]

During the Clinton administration, there was some talk of buying an existing island about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii that was fair sized and had plenty of vegetation, water, etc. to sustain animal life. The idea got shot down and I wondered at the time what they were thinking of doing of doing with the island. The Jurrasic idea did come to mind.

[GoodOlBoy]

They are gone. Let them go. Cloning IMHO is nothing but bad news. You want an example? Look at the nutritional difference between a heirloom vegetable (non-tampered with) and a hybrid vegetable (tamper seal is WAY broken). A heirloom veggie is WAY WAY WAY better for you than a hybrid. Across the scales it is a more nutritious item. When we clone something we are bring it back from a DNA strand that is inserted into a host egg of "similar" DNA. IE you NEVER are able to bring the true critter back, and what you do bring back just isn't right in some ways.

My 2 cents.

GoodOlBoy (Yea my spelling is off today)

[Seawolf1090]

As the guy said in Jurrasic Park - "Nature selected them for extinction...."

So what if Man were the primal cause? It could have been something else - disease, loss of food or too heavy predation.

Let them go.......