US man, 81, sentenced to six months for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/biodiversity@mander.xyz

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[-] thebardingreen@lemmy.starlightkel.xyz 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I'm super confused about why what this guy did is illegal. I guess the sheep was illegally imported? But the judge seemed to object to it on moral grounds ("Changing the genetic makeup of the creatures on Earth"). This isn't anything biotech companies aren't doing every day.

I feel like if a biotech company did this, even with an illegally imported sheep, they would get some very minor cost of doing business fine for the illegal import and then they'd bring the modified sheep to market 9 months later.

[-] Addv4@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

The main problem (been loosely following it for a bit) was that he essentially created a hybrid sheep with one that is invasive for the area. He for sure did it for trophy hunting, but at the risk of messing up the ecology of the areas he was putting it in. Arguably this is a kind minor fine ($20k for introducing an invasive species), so idk. The articles I've seen act mostly like it wasn't a big deal, but he was pretty blatently trying to skirt the law through the use of trying to make a hybrid.

[-] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

How do we expect man to contain his unquenchable bloodlust if we don’t give him things he’s allowed to kill?

[-] radix@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

Objectively funny crimes should not be punished.

this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2024

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Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

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