Amazing achievement with dire outcome

The concept of extinction was recently bestowed with a new definition, sort of. It still means that when a species' population reaches zero, then said species is extinct. Further, when the designation of extinction is achieved by a species, the sentence is forever. And because of its finality, extinction is an extremely depressing term. Only Hollywood fiction and blurry attempts at photoshop give hope of a misdiagnosis. Short of the coelacanth (a presumed extinct fish), extinction always stays true to its nature … gone is gone. Except when it ain't. Scientists, poets and dreamers have always held fast to the idea that modern knowledge and technology can someday bring a species back. Genetic engineering and genome sequencing have, over the last few decades at least, kept the resurrection conversation alive. Still, DNA is insanely tiny and complicated, and lining up one of the world's most complicated chemical puzzles always seemed a bit out of reach. Then last year, a biotech company called Colossal produced three dire wolf pups! And at the moment of the first pup's birth, extinction took on a softer connotation. But more than that, and by more I mean much, much more, mankind too was redefined. To so many of us, the idea of a Jurassic Park or seeing a woolly mammoth roam the frozen tundra again was a childhood dream that, despite becoming a little less discussed, easily carried deep into our adulthood. The science employed in Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" books had strong theoretical backing. It just hadn't been achieved yet, and when computers and Hollywood turned his pages into what seemed like real live dinosaurs then the hopeful feeling of de-extinction came flooding back. And for those at Colossal Biosciences, it became a passion. A passion that has, apparently, turned into reality. A reality that has returned the dire wolf back to the Earth after a 10,000+ year absence. Wow! Shortly thereafter, however, a tiny upwelling of practicality mixed with a minute swirl of ethical consciousness started deep in my core. The child within me tried to fight it off, but failed. Isn't finding the cure for cancer more important? Is messing with nature at this level a worthwhile idea? What's the overall intent here? What I found interesting was that no recent article put the resurrection of the dire wolf together with the popularized phrase of dire consequences. I find that both surprising and ironic. Neither have they placed them with dire straits. (But considering the wandering pitchiness of the dire wolf pups howling, this comes without surprise or irony.) The biggest questions I have are: Why and what's the plan here? Colossal, and their proponents, claim that their work is in no way a scientific sideshow. They lean greatly on the notion that it is our ethical responsibility to return those extinct animals that we had a hand in eliminating. With this said, dodos, Tasmanian tigers and woolly mammoths are deep in the works. In fact, they believe that they will have a living woolly mammoth sometime in 2028! It is hard to argue with such a stance, until you really achieve it. So, now that we have dire wolves, what do we do with them? This is where the discussion turns to rewilding them. Where and what will they eat? Please do not confuse the real dire wolf with the Game of Thrones direwolf. The HBO wolves are far too large -- Hollywood large! The real dire wolf was indeed larger than today's timber wolf (gray wolf), but only by a little bit. But being slightly bigger, they were able to prey upon the megafauna of the last Ice Age. Thus, while timber wolves were taking down deer and elk, dire wolves were taking down woolly mammoths. And in this being true, the question again is "what will they eat?" Further, ancient dire wolves had intestinal fauna that might have also become extinct. Will they be able to efficiently process food? Who will teach them to hunt? Do they need to live in packs? At this point, rewildling seems like something to think about later. For now, Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, the dire wolf pup's names, are relegated to a secretive 2,000-acre habitat. Here they are monitored 24/7 and fed fortified food. Despite being raised by humans, the pups show a distinct shyness'toward people. While 2,000 acres is substantial, it is tiny compared to the home range of the timber wolf. Simply assumption would make one believe that dire wolves ranged much further. So, is this enclosure small to the point of being cruel? And what happens if they get out? (I mean, besides how great of a movie it will become.) (I hereby claim ownership to the title of Pleistocene Park.) Certainly, the science to produce a viable dire wolf egg cannot be denied, but gestation and birth can be. The surrogate mother was a dog, and the birth came via Cesarean section. Somehow, I don't believe that dog signed up for this. Despite their size, dire wolves are tiny compared to woolly mammoths. What's to become of them if/when they are resurrected? Two-thousand acres surrounded by a chain link fence probably won't suffice. Perhaps we will need to take all of Canada's Northwest Territories and set it aside for woolly mammoths. The bottom line is that I don't know if this stuff is wrong or right. I do know that the science is awesome. And I do know it touches my childhood heartstrings. I ask myself: If they were to be put on display at a zoo, would I go to see them? I believe I would. If it were to be a woolly mammoth, yes, definitely! I would even buy the t-shirt. But with the realization that wherever I would wear it, I would have to be prepared for highly emotional commentary.