They'll have to go
Mr Crofter and his unexpected tenants.
Mr Crofter has bought Sanctuary Island off the coast of Scotland which turns out to be the unexpected home of some rather exotic animals. These are a nuisance because Mr Crofter wants to turn the island into a golf course and he’s rather dismissive when his secretary suggests that perhaps a few of the Great Auks could be kept. On the other hand, when the staff start running down those furry animals whose hides can be exploited, he’s not pleased about that and orders such creatures to be captured.
The local religious nutter, Father McMoor, arrives one day and is aghast to learn that Black Mountain will be blown up. When he protests, Mr Crofter tells him that his company will build a replica, although that doesn’t placate Father McMoor.
The book wonders whether it’s better to save something.
Presumably it would be better if something was saved, although perhaps that just delays the inevitable if the population isn’t viable without a lot of in-breeding among the surviving creatures. I cannot imagine that Mr Crofter’s slaughter of some rare animal species would go unnoticed by the outside world. Even if he tried to suppress all knowledge of the various rare species that inhabit the island, someone with a conscience would eventually reveal their existence.
The discussion in the back of the book is about the extinction of species like the Great Auk; how many extinct species come from (or rather, came from) Australia; and whether natural areas which have been replaced after, say, mining are any more or less natural than what was there before.
The local religious nutter, Father McMoor, arrives one day and is aghast to learn that Black Mountain will be blown up. When he protests, Mr Crofter tells him that his company will build a replica, although that doesn’t placate Father McMoor.
The book wonders whether it’s better to save something.
Presumably it would be better if something was saved, although perhaps that just delays the inevitable if the population isn’t viable without a lot of in-breeding among the surviving creatures. I cannot imagine that Mr Crofter’s slaughter of some rare animal species would go unnoticed by the outside world. Even if he tried to suppress all knowledge of the various rare species that inhabit the island, someone with a conscience would eventually reveal their existence.
The discussion in the back of the book is about the extinction of species like the Great Auk; how many extinct species come from (or rather, came from) Australia; and whether natural areas which have been replaced after, say, mining are any more or less natural than what was there before.
Tomorrow’s dilemma is about our duty to animals.
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