Up A Creek...

...without a trout.

Efforts at reinvigorating the population of greenback cutthroat trout have been seriously hampered because they restocked the population with the WRONG FISH.

Rather than cultivate the population of greenback cutthroats, they accidentally stocked with Colorado River cutthroat trout.

Apparently the difference in appearance between the two is so slight that it required sequencing and analyzing mitochondrial and nuclear DNA in order to identify the correct species.

Are we really at the point that we find each specific DNA pattern so paramount to the cycle of life that we're willing to spend loads of time and money trying to save a fish that we can't identify properly except through extraordinary means?

The greenback cutthroat was declared extinct at one point then rediscovered. Supposedly it nearly went extinct because of mining operations.

Here's the thing.... The environmentalists are primarily atheist and agnostic and tend to be major proponents of evolution. If species are dying off for any reason it must mean that they don't have the capacity to survive on their own and therefore should just be left to drown in the gene pool. If man, who supposedly evolved is killing off other species then that's just natural selection at work and conservation is not only unnecessary, it's impeding the natural course of evolution which should be sacrosanct to these people.

These people need to get their story straight.