News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Feral desert donkeys are digging wells, giving water to parched wildlife. Parent comment

Re:Feral desert donkeys are digging wells, giving water to p... by benj111 on Friday August 11, 2023 @03:59PM (#37093269)
It isn't Chesterton's fence though. We removed the fence (wolves in your example) and have now discovered why the fence was there, and have now stepped in to build a new fence.

Also removing native species and sending the balance out of whack is different to removing a non native species that has sent the balance out of whack.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Feral desert donkeys are digging wells, giving water to p... by 9dev on Friday August 11, 2023 @05:08PM (#37094063)
> We removed the fence (wolves in your example) and have now discovered why the fence was there, and have now stepped in to build a new fence.

This isn’t quite accurate, though. Between removing the fence and getting fence construction inclinations, a lot of time has passed, and in the meantime, nature did lots of stuff we hardly understand.

Assuming otherwise is just repeating the same mistake again. Feral donkeys might be part of a new ecosystem now.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Feral desert donkeys are digging wells, giving water to p... by benj111 on Saturday August 12, 2023 @03:34AM (#37097942)
Maybe, but that's just an excuse to never do anything.

And we can be fairly sure about some things.

Rats in new Zealand, rabbits in Australia, cane toads in Australia, etc, etc.

Further it takes time to remove these populations, so you can observe what happens when they're removed from a local area.

[ Parent | on HN ]