# The new environmental debate

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-environmental-debate/509623>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 11, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-environmental-debate/509623 "2009-09-11T00:06:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Brainiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@Brainiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-environmental-debate/509623/1 "2009-09-11T00:06:40Z")

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Here’s one with “environmentalists” on both sides:  
[Should Columbia kill the invasive species hippos or let them run loose?](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/world/americas/11hippo.html?_r=1&ref=global-home)

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**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-environmental-debate/509623/2 "2009-09-11T02:08:46Z")

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Well they look cuddly and awesome, but are actually murderous foul tempered mountains of meat. As long as they don’t spread all the way to Maryland I say let them be.

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**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-environmental-debate/509623/3 "2009-09-11T02:20:27Z")

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H m m m m . . . . :dubious:

Hippos can be [dangerous](http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/toptenlists/World%27s_Most_Dangerous_Animals). All the people who pile on in “pit bulls in your neighborhood are crazy dangerous and will eat your children” threads might like to join in on the bloodthirsty hippos.

Animals imported from entirely different continents can wind [up](http://ethomas.web.wesleyan.edu/ees123/invasive_species.htm) [causing](http://www.invasivespecies.gov/) [disastrous](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species) [consequences](http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/). That whole “no natural predators” thing is a real bitch.

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**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-environmental-debate/509623/4 "2009-09-13T17:14:37Z")

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Seems only fair to find them a new home, since we poached them out of their traditional ones.  
It’s not “against nature”. Nature has always had animals that discover new habitats and prosper.

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**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-environmental-debate/509623/5 "2009-09-13T17:22:25Z")

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[double post error]

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-environmental-debate/509623/6 "2009-09-13T18:06:49Z")

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> [@TheMadHun](#):
>
> Seems only fair to find them a new home, since we poached them out of their traditional ones.  
> It’s not “against nature”. Nature has always had animals that discover new habitats and prosper.

Nature wasn’t the one who transported these multi-ton animals across the ocean to a completely new continent. Humans caused this problem; therefore it behooves us to do something about it.

Hippos are still reasonably common in parts of Africa, so preserving the species is not any kind of rationale for introducing them to areas where they don’t belong. Besides being extremely dangerous to humans, they would very likely cause a great deal of environmental destruction and quite possibly the extinction of native species if they were allowed to spread widely in South America. If they can’t be securely maintained and prevented from spreading, they should either be captured and put in zoos or killed. Preservation of native species has to be the priority here.