Voting for wolves
In “Colorado Throws Wolves to the Vote” (March 2020) Ethan Linck maintains that whether to reintroduce wolves to Colorado is a philosophical question not answerable by science. Putting wolf reintroduction to a vote is the right way to go. After all, why should Colorado Parks and Wildlife scientists enjoy privileged status when it comes to saying what is good for the citizens and the wilds of Colorado? And since when have state wildlife agencies been free from political influence?
That said, I think Linck is wrong to suggest that science has little or no bearing on the issue. While it is true that science cannot dictate what we ought to do, it often helps us come to an informed decision about what it would be best to do. For example, science teaches us that a rapidly changing climate will be bad for many humans and many species of plant and animal. We know this even though we can’t predict the future in precise detail. It is no argument against this to say that “bad” is a value term, not a term of science.
—Kirk Robinson, via email
