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[John Terborgh] Now you might think
that little islands in the middle of a lake in Venezuela might not have
much relevance to what everybody experiences in normal life, but that’s
not really true. This is a process which we call fragmentation, but it’s
a very widespread one, it occurs almost everywhere human beings
intervene into a wild land.
The virtual islands that we live on, like the real ones on Lake Guri,
were created with the best of intentions. In cities and suburbs, we’ve
pushed predators aside or killed them outright. Some say we are now
living with the consequences. Herbivores and scavengers are rampant in
much of North America. They are spreading lime disease and rabies, they
are damaging property. To what extent is the removal of predators to
blame? This question spurs a hot debate even as some researchers
advocate bringing back what’s missing.
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