BACK TO THE WILD

Patent (Biodiversity, 1996, etc.) describes some of the current conservation programs that preserve endangered animals by capturing wild specimens, breeding them in captivity, and reintroducing offspring to the wild. The American red wolf, black-footed ferret, Florida panther, the Madagascar lemur, and the Brazilian golden lion tamarin are some of the animals in captive breeding programs. Noting the difficulties and failures of such programs, Patent introduces— without going into detail—the concerns conservationists have raised about such programs: scarce resources directed away from environmental and habitat protection; captive and released animals having a high mortality rate; the ethical issues surrounding genetic tinkering; the selection of popular animals (large, cuddly mammals are chosen while thousands of other endangered species are ignored); and the destruction of existing competing species in a range to permit the reintroduction of a particular species. Patent acknowledges that habitat protection is cheaper and more effective, but concludes that captive breeding programs are a ``hopeful tool for conservation of species around the world.'' Full-color photographs of animals in and out of captivity enhance the whole. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)