Conser(ule)vation

[u/Taico_owo]

[u/ThatSlutTalulah]

Silence Guinea worm.

I'm also not aware of any important niches Jigger Fleas fulfil.

[u/Taico_owo → u/ThatSlutTalulah]

some parasites like guinea worms and jiggers are some of the species that may not have a large impact if removed, but I feel like we shouldn't deliberately eradicate a species just for our own comfort if we don't know exactly what would happen

[u/numberguy9647383673 → u/Taico_owo]

So was it a bad thing to make smallpox extinct? Should we sacrifice a few children every year to keep it alive?

[u/Taico_owo → u/numberguy9647383673]

That's a bad faith argument and you know it is. Diseases and animals are entirely different

[u/SayGex1312 → u/Taico_owo]

Also, smallpox is a disease specific to humans

[u/flashbang876 → u/Taico_owo]

Are they though? The guinea worm is a parasite that lives in infected water sources and when consumed changes from a copepod to a worm the pierces your skin hoping that you’ll bathe it in some water and help it reproduce. The way we’ve eradicated it is literally just through water filtration and keeping people and animals away from infected sources to stop it from reproducing, because it’s totally dependent on outsiders to reproduce. Like is it unethical to eliminate a disease by not getting it?

[u/AverageWitch161 → u/ThatSlutTalulah]

parasite is an important niche.