Animal Rights vs Wildlife Conservation

The Conservation Maven asks Can animal rights activists and conservationists find common ground? This article takes the neutral stance, giving a couple of alternative viewpoints and not taking much of a position. That’s all well and good for reaching a broad audience, but let’s be honest – animal rights is in no way compatible with conservation biology. Audubon Magazine also recognizes that there is a conflict with few points of agreement, in this article on the conflict between feral cat management advocates and wildlife issues.

It’s not that they don’t care about conserving wildlife; animal rights activists are just focused on the rights of the individual when it comes to animals. Even at the expense of the ecosystem. In the case of deer and cats, animal rights activists care more about the individual of those species, at the expense of a host of other plants and animals in those ecosystems. It might feel passionate and heartfelt on the parts of animal rights activists, but it is irresponsible wildlife management.

Take their preferred solution to these problems, for instance: neutering or sterilizing these problem animals. It sounds nice, except it doesn’t work.