Lars Kenseth

“When a species goes extinct, the role it once played in its ecosystem—as a fertilizer, forest disturber, predator, and so on—vanishes along with it.”
― Britt Wray, Rise of the Necrofauna: A Provocative Look at the Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction

“it took more than two hundred implantation attempts in fifty-seven goats for seven of them to get pregnant. Out of those seven pregnancies, only one was brought to term, and on July 30, 2003, Celia’s clone—the world’s first unextinct animal—was born, weighing in at 4.5 pounds. Roughly ten minutes later, though, she died; an extra growth on her lung prevented her from flourishing, and the bucardo became extinct a second time around.”
― Britt Wray, Rise of the Necrofauna: A Provocative Look at the Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction

“As opposed to the precautionary principle, which says do nothing because you don’t know what the unknown consequences are, we say, use cautionary vigilance with transparency and responsibility,” Phelan told me. By biting off only one small chunk of technological risk at a time in the hope of creating a better future, this approach allows Phelan and Brand to iteratively test what is going right and wrong so that they can adapt their projects along the way.”
― Britt Wray, Rise of the Necrofauna: A Provocative Look at the Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction

“The fact that it took so many attempts to achieve success is not unusual with cloning, and that raises ethical questions about cloning extinct animals. Because of complications in development, lots of embryos are sacrificed in the cloning process. Many that grow into fetuses die soon after birth. Congenital diseases are common in clones, so they may suffer fatal complications before they leave the lab. Nobody knows how many lives or potential lives will be lost in the attempt to clone extinct species until these techniques are perfected for it. Pushing ahead with de-extinction by cloning inherently means taking risks.”
― Britt Wray, Rise of the Necrofauna: A Provocative Look at the Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction