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"Go extinct" doesn't mean "be all killed" or "be violently sterilized". It means that we should stop breeding these unnatural and disadvantaged animals. The whi
by michaelochurch 14y ago
"Go extinct" doesn't mean "be all killed" or "be violently sterilized". It means that we should stop breeding these unnatural and disadvantaged animals. The white tigers that exist would live comfortable lives in captivity (because they can't survive in the wild) and die naturally of age. Everything about their lives is already artificial, but animals don't seem to need or enjoy sex in the general sense in a way that humans do (they have no interest when not in heat) and therefore it's not inhumane to prevent them from breeding.
For a more severe and human example, people who have a high likelihood of carrying the recessive Taysach's gene are often tested. If they both are carriers, they adopt, rather than taking a 1-in-4 chance of having a child who will die horribly. If one is a carrier and the other is not, then it's no problem. No one is being sterilized; it's positive, voluntary eugenics and it's a good thing.
- true_religion 14y agoAccording to the Cincinnati zoo example, white tigers are apparently being bred for profit, and kept in captivity. So I'm unsure how they are disadvantaged anymore so than say pure-bred dogs with physical problems that mongrels don't tend to have.
- KC8ZKF 14y agoTu quoque. Perhaps Dalmatians should be allowed to go extinct.
- slurgfest 14y agoBreeds with really severe genetic problems that make them miserable and completely unviable outside human care should be allowed to go extinct. It's not ethical.
- sliverstorm 14y agoIt's an impossible battle. Too many people enjoy, for example, like that pugs have a fundamentally non-functional nose.
- freshhawk 14y agoI don't think it's impossible, this seems like the kind of cultural change that is just an extension of the changes that have happened and are happening.
- BrianEatWorld 14y agoI've often wondered about examples like this. To what extent can making yourself attractive or "cute" enough to have your existence furthered by another species be considered a successful form of adaptation?
- lalc 14y agoCats, I recall reading, "domesticated themselves" a long time ago. As a direct result, they are absurdly successful. Surely that's a valid adaptation.