Does Anyone Think through this Stuff?

Do you know what a "saola" is? No, don't look it up! Tell the truth, do you know what a saola is?

My guess is that none of the folks reading this blog have any idea what this thing is. Here is the answer: a saola is an extremely rare animal that is sort of a cross between a cow and an antelope and which lives in the jungle/forest along the border between Laos and Vietnam. The animal was first discovered in the 1930's, but that discovery was the result of examinations of bones of dead animals that were found. Since that time, a saola has never been observed in the wild. A few were caught, but they quickly died in captivity. The animals are very secretive and therefore never seen.

That brings me to my point. Today, livescience.com is writing about the saola and highlighting the "plight" of this species. We are told that it is close to extinction. Of course, the culprit here is man; supposedly poachers are killing the animal in it native habitat even though the article admits that no one is out seraching for these animals. The article, of course, ends with the usual environmental position that something must be done to save the saola.

So, we have an animal that no one has ever seen in the wild. No one could possibly know how many of the animals there are or how many there were 50 years ago. Nevertheless, we are told that the animal is near extinction. How do they know? Indeed, how could they possibly know? There could be more saolas on earth today than there were 50 years ago, but the environmentalists tell us that they are near extinction. What's next? Will we next hear that there is a scientific consensus that the saola is near extinction? The whole story is garbage.

No one is in favor of extinction for any species. Nevertheless, to manufacture an extinction crisis for a species like the saola is nothing but BS.