The political meaning of species

[John Grehan]

The connection I drew between essentialist species definitions and
Nazi ideology of purity and difference is not to label such
species definitions as necessarily Nazi, but to draw attention to the
manifestations of those definitions when it comes to making decisions
about how to manage those species relationships.

In the black robon-tit hybrid (tobin) case
there was a seeming lack of scientific evaluation, and the only defense
offerred in public were criteria of purity that were somehow seen
as essential to species existence. Not only did the NZ government
fail to establish scientific criteria in their species (non)policy, a certain
amount of deliberate secrecy was maintained about the events such
that it took several years of persistant requests to Goverment
Cabinet ministers, and to the Ombudsman's
Office (an instituation charged with overseeing government compliance with
legislated directives) to obtain the information. The Department of Conservation
did not want to see their application of "science" come to public notice, or
even reach other scientists.

John Grehan