TOW #21- Non-fiction Text 1

     "You can take the animal out of the wild, but you can't take the wild out of the animal"- an old quote used endlessly by animal rights advocates, and mothers who keep declining their child's request for an exotic pet.  In today's world, however, scientists have found ways to take the wild out of an animal without having to remove it from its habitat at all.  With the development of various endangerment protection technologies, an abundance of species have been saved from extinction.  These types of advancements have served very helpful in animal conservation to a degree, until the technology begins to overtake the wilderness to a point where it is no longer wild.
     In recent decades, forms of wildlife surveillance and tracking have progressed in an effort for animals.  Cameras planted on trees to keep an eye out for the endangered Sierra Nevada Red Fox let researchers know how much danger the species may actually be facing.  While it is good to take advantage of the updated resources we acquire, it is not good to take advantage to the point of invasion.
     It would be ideal if we were to utilize this technology only to restore an ecosystem, and then leave it untouched after the fact.  However, the problem is that in today's world of rapid industrialization, we do not know when to stop: when enough is enough.  It seems that everyday there is a new field or park being torn up, and huge houses and developments being placed right on top.  As we continue to turn open space into closed, animals all over the world are losing their homes.  As a society, we see no direct consequences of such invasions, but the indirect consequences can result in thousands of lost species, that, once are gone, can never exist again.  The same invasions occur in protection efforts.  Herds of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep roam Yosemite National Park in GPS collars.  These collars were manufactured.  The sheep were not.
     Humans are currently the species in control, but it is important to think of what we do with our control.  In such a technological-based era, we turn to gadgets to fix everything, even the endangerment of a wild species.  But what we cannot and should never attempt to control from a computer is the wild in an animal.  Doing so would be a cheat on Mother Nature; a disrespect to the wonder of the wilderness.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/sunday-review/the-unnatural-kingdom.html?ribbon-ad-idx=6&rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article