At one level this delights me and gives me optimism. At a basic aesthetic level, a world that has dodos, and woolly mammoths, and sabre tooth tigers, is a more interesting one. "Bring back as many of these magnificent creatures as possible!", I think.
Yet, to expand on points made by other posters, the very existence of this species requires a kind of ecological disequilibrium. Humans will need to maintain strict control over what other species are allowed into its habitat (the article mentions rats in particular). It seems like a fight against entropy, which requires ongoing work, like maintaining two thermal reservoirs at different temperatures. Or keeping COVID from becoming endemic in China (or any other country).
I have always found the dodo to be a sympathetic animal, though. Tame, friendly, trusting. I suppose when you're hungry you eat anything, and once you've killed your first animal for meat, then the second and third become easier, so if I were not an insulated modern myself (indeed a bit like the dodo), then I would maybe have an easy time killing one. But as it stands, I find it hard to imagine, and my impulse is to try to befriend the creatures. "Yes, let's bring back the dodo", I think, "maybe we can be friends".
Maybe that's not a horrible ecological niche. Dogs are not totally incapable creatures, but in America they live almost exclusively as domesticated pets. In a way, the same may be true of humans, who are all utterly dependent on the rest of society. Perhaps the dodo, who will live at the mercy of peoples' tastes, will not be so different from many of us.
While your main point is philosophical, you mentioned the practical concern of rats - for what it’s worth, Alberta, a Canadian province the size of France, has completely eradicated rats despite being land-bordered on all sides by provinces with rats. Alberta produces a lot of grain, and it’s a big savings for them to not have to deal with rats. This is accomplished with a provincial task force that costs about half a million bucks a year, aggressive reporting action by the population, and enthusiastic cooperation from the local farms. So it can be done, and it’s not nearly as hard as it sounds!
That's really interesting (I now live in an East Coast US city with a rat problem) -- do they have any good papers or anything on what tactics they used to eliminate the rats? 500K a year sounds like a bargain, I bet that's NYC's rat czar's basic salary
One big thing is that it is too cold in Alberta for most rats to survive. The only one that's very viable is the Norway rat, and even then it's too cold for them to live outside all year round - so if you can keep them out of structures you can eliminate them entirely. Once the initial kill-off was done (which was accomplished with ludicrous amounts of poison), it's mostly about protecting the provincial border.
Yet, to expand on points made by other posters, the very existence of this species requires a kind of ecological disequilibrium. Humans will need to maintain strict control over what other species are allowed into its habitat (the article mentions rats in particular). It seems like a fight against entropy, which requires ongoing work, like maintaining two thermal reservoirs at different temperatures. Or keeping COVID from becoming endemic in China (or any other country).
I have always found the dodo to be a sympathetic animal, though. Tame, friendly, trusting. I suppose when you're hungry you eat anything, and once you've killed your first animal for meat, then the second and third become easier, so if I were not an insulated modern myself (indeed a bit like the dodo), then I would maybe have an easy time killing one. But as it stands, I find it hard to imagine, and my impulse is to try to befriend the creatures. "Yes, let's bring back the dodo", I think, "maybe we can be friends".
Maybe that's not a horrible ecological niche. Dogs are not totally incapable creatures, but in America they live almost exclusively as domesticated pets. In a way, the same may be true of humans, who are all utterly dependent on the rest of society. Perhaps the dodo, who will live at the mercy of peoples' tastes, will not be so different from many of us.