Even if you are fine with line of reasoning you should consider the situation where we find ourselves in some fututre predicament where we have a disease that c

Even if you are fine with line of reasoning you should consider the situation where we find ourselves in some fututre predicament where we have a disease that can only be cured by something we would synthesise from a rare protein that has only ever been found in the tears of the lesser Peruvian Fruitbat but unfortunately it's extinct and that's pretty much that. Even if you don't buy the argument that we are custodians of the earth and its natural resources for future generations, extinction is a one-way door[1] and it's really not possible to say that allowing an animal to become extinct would serve our interests because we can't see the future to know how this may harm us in the future. [1] Pretty much. Yes I know about the attempts to bring back the mammoth etc.