Bringing Dinosaurs Back: The Moral & Legal Complications
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BRINGING DINOSAURS BACK:
THE MORAL & LEGAL COMPLICATIONS
By
Kacey Hovden*
From Hollywood blockbusters to your local natural history museums,
dinosaurs have captured the attention and wonder of the public for decades.
The possibility of bringing these long extinct creatures back, once a science-
fiction fantasy, is now closer to reality than ever before through a process
known as de-extinction. This Article dives into the exploitative nature in-
herent in the de-extinction of dinosaurs, studying the University of Mon-
tana's Dr. Jack Homer's dinochicken project and the moral considerations
implicated when conducting mass genetic engineering on sentient beings.
The Article then centers itself on the ecological and legal complications
likely to arise if a dinosaur de-extinction project, such as Dr. Homer's, is
successful. Ultimately, although bringing dinosaurs back would certainly
bring the dreams of many to life, the consequences in doing so suggest to-
day's world would greatly benefit from leaving these prehistoric creatures in
the past.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction ........................................... 121
II. Scientific Possibility or Science Fiction Fantasy? ............ 123
III. Morality-Unnecessarily Cruel or Ecological Duty?.......... 126
A. THE ETHICS OF GENETIC MODIFICATION .................. 127
B. SUBMERSION INTO TODAY'S ECOSYSTEMS ................. .129
C. AFFECTING EXISTING ECOSYSTEMS .......................... 132
IV. Legal Im plications ........................................ 135
V . Conclusion ............................................... 139
I. Introduction
Dinosaurs once roamed the earth for about 165 million years,
reigning as the supreme megafauna of a planet with an evolving cli-
* Kacey J. Hovden is the New Mexico Program Manager for Nuestra Tierra Conser-
vation Project, where she focuses on ensuring New Mexico's culturally and ethnically
diverse communities not only have access to the outdoors, but also to the land manage-
ment processes, legislation, and policies behind them. She has a B.S. in Environmental
Science from Briar Cliff University, a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, with a Cer-
tificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law, and is licensed to practice law in
the State of New Mexico.
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Bringing Dinosaurs Back: The Moral & Legal Complications
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