Darwinism at Work on Offshore Islands

It seems the “non-indigenous wildlife” on our offshore islands are again in the cross hairs of environmental purists. After more than 100 years, these biologically unique goats, sheep and wild horses are now deemed a threat by the National Parks Service. It seems they eat the “native” vegetation.

I find myself wondering what makes a plant or animal “native.” If an animal adapts to a certain area, hasn’t it earned the right to live there? Isn’t this Darwinism at work?

We know, for example, that most of the plants and animals in the South Pacific didn’t evolve there but drifted ashore on trees washed to sea from the mainland. One day, will hysterical environmental zealots hack their way through jungles, hunting down the last remnant of a species, so that they can return the island to the “Holy Grail” of its prehistoric state?

Extremism, even in a noble cause, needs to be tempered with a little common sense.

RICHARD SCHAEFER, Ventura