Species justice and harm to animals - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 130

endangered species…San Clemente Island, of the coast of
California, has both endemic plant species and a population
of feral goats, introduced by Spanish sailors two centuries
ago. To protect plants numbering in the few hundreds, the
Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Navy have shot tens
of thousands of feral goats. (Rolston, 2010: 605-6)
This represents cases where the so-called ethic of species has triumphed.
The death of individual creatures has been weighed up against the
potential demise of whole species. While objectionable from the point
of view of killing animals, unless suitable alternatives for relocation are
possible or available, there is a moral justification for such acts insofar as
they allow future and more diverse life to flourish. The contemporary
treatment of refugees offers a poignant human parallel to these kinds
of decisions. Who suffers and who benefits is always complicated by
immediate circumstance and longer-term prospects.
Endemic species are not always the species that are most valued and
most likely to gain support from human backers when it comes to
situations of species competition. Consider the case of the galaxias fish
for example. A number of types of this species of fish are strictly unique
to the island state of Tasmania in Australia. Due to the destruction of
habitat and the introduction of non-native species they are, however,
now under serious threat. The key problem is introduced trout species.
Galaxias are not only forced to compete for food (insects that fall or
land on the surface of the water), but are also preyed upon by non-
native predators such as the brown and rainbow trout (Threatened
Species Unit, Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania, 1998). Trout
were introduced into Tasmania in the mid-1800s, primarily for the
purposes of recreational fishing. Today they are also a valued part of the
aquaculture industry. Almost all of government and private attention
has been on protecting the trout, regardless of the consequences of
this for the galaxias. This is because the trout is deemed a valued and
valuable species (for tourism, for commercial food markets), while the
plight of the galaxia is ignored since they have no economic value.
Laws have been designed to protect the trout (for example, catch
limits, closed seasons, licences). While officially the galaxia is classified
as 'protected', the fact is that its main predator has been encouraged to
flourish regardless of ecological outcome and its impact on the future
viability of the galaxia species.
Human intervention in the lives of both wild and domesticated
animals has major ramifications for species survival and biodiversity.
The phenomenon of assisted colonisation involves the moving of