Gene Drives and Island Rodent Eradications: Ethics, Animal Welfare, and Conservation
Proposals to eradicate rodents threatening native seabird populations on islands using tools including poisons and - potentially - gene drives are becoming increasingly common. Focusing on the case of Gough Island, we analyze such proposals from two ethical perspectives - the value of the lives and...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Environmental ethics
Year: 2025, Volume: 47, Issue: 3, Pages: 301-325 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Proposals to eradicate rodents threatening native seabird populations on islands using tools including poisons and - potentially - gene drives are becoming increasingly common. Focusing on the case of Gough Island, we analyze such proposals from two ethical perspectives - the value of the lives and welfare of individuals, and the conservation value of saving populations. We argue that from many ethical positions, and for both welfare and conservation reasons, a gene drive intervention, were one available, would be better than no intervention or the use of poison. However, we also argue that the standard conservation stories given for island rodent eradications may ignore significant complexity. In the case of Gough Island, for instance, the rodents, as well as the seabirds, are significant reservoirs of biodiversity. Hence, rodent eradication can result in the loss of some conservation value. While this does not mean rodent eradications should be ruled out, recognizing they may bring conservation loss as well as welfare loss would be a first step toward more firmly grounded ethical justifications for eradication. |
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| ISSN: | 2153-7895 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Environmental ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5840/enviroethics2025103103 |
