RIP Martha the Passenger Pigeon

There is a project in its initial stages to revive the passenger pigeon using DNA from the preserved remains in collections such as the Royal Ontario Museum. While it would be a fascinating scientific exercise, wouldn't we agree that that this bird has flown?

When Europeans arrived in North America there were hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of passenger pigeons. They may have represented a quarter of all the birds in North America. The travelling flocks were miles long and would darken the sky. They would also create their own snowstorms of droppings, which couldn't have encouraged looking up to witness their migration. The massive flocks would descend on oak forests to consume acorns from oak trees, not maples, as was suggested in a recent Toronto Star article.

They were shot by the thousands to be consumed, but also for the sheer bloody sport of it. This reckless killing and loss of habitat eventually destroyed what may have been the most common bird on the planet. It seemed impossible that they would become extinct because of their extraordinary abundance, but the last known passenger pigeon, named Martha, dying in captivity 100 years ago today.


There is an exhibit about the passenger pigeon at the ROM right now, and while I think I would like to go, it might just make me sad. One speaker will be Dr. Joel Greenberg who will talk about his book A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction. The title is poetic and painful.

             

We hear a lot about species extinction these days, yet I wonder how much we take in. While extinctions may not be as dramatic, humans are undermining the balance of the created order. Our Judeo-Christian story emphasizes God's work in creating biodiversity and we have the Noah story as the myth of species preservation. But we are reminded regularly in scripture that our selfishness and greed are destructive and that we must change our foolish ways.

If we don't protect the diversity of living things it may be a human Martha as the last living creature. We can do better and God wants us to do better.

Thoughts?