Right, that's how I read it the first time, and that's exactly the point I aim to refute. Imagine a sheep that is sneaking out of their enclosure. Either they manage to mate, or the human catches them and deems them too unruly to mate and a more docile sheep is selected. Either way, the enclosure is reinforced and unruly sheep are phased out of the population.

The most correct statement would be intelligence, if possessed && if it makes the specimen more selective, will be put to use to further survival and reproduction. Countless animals don't rely on intelligence for gene propagation, and wouldn't achieve higher reproductive rates from higher intelligence. Big brains are resource intensive, birds and ants are doing just fine at the natural selection game without high intelligence, technology, culture, or civilization.