Cloning the Tasmanian Tiger

Cloning the Tasmanian Tiger

The Tasmanian Tiger is a carnivorous marsupial that had the appearance of a dog and the stripes of a tiger. One has not been seen in about sixty years, because they are extinct. However, it was not by evolution or even natural causes; humans were the cause of its demise. When Australia and Tasmania were first becoming populated, the people did not know what the Tasmanian Tiger was, and people have a long history of getting rid of what they don’t understand. But, they needed an excuse to do so; that excuse came when their sheep started dying off. They thought that the Tasmanian Tiger was doing it, when, in reality it was the wild dogs, the dingos that were feasting on the peoples sheep. That caused a hunting season to open up, legalizing the hunting and killing of the Tasmanian Tiger. Some of the ‘tigers’ were captured alive and were kept in zoos; in fact, that is where the last Tasmanian Tiger lived and died. Now, with the help of technology there is a chance to clone the Tasmanian Tiger and to reinstate an extinct species. But, even if we can bring it back, should we? The simple fact that humans caused the extinction is the best reason why we, humans, should clone it. The mistake people made in killing the Tasmanian Tiger would be rectified, if we are to clone it. We would be placing an extinct animal back into existence. We have the technology, and the DNA needed, so why not do it? While there are a few great reasons to clone the Tasmanian Tiger there are more and better reasons not to. They have been gone for about sixty years, the ecosystem is doing fine now, but if they were reintroduced into it we have no idea what the result would be. We don’t know if the clones produced will be some sort of hybrid or if they will start killing livestock, like sheep and other larger animals. There is every possibility that something will go wrong and the ‘tigers’ will be deformed or if they will be completely different