Roger Roots, founder of Lysander Spooner University, has a new bet: that rhinos, orangutans, cheetahs, and blue whales will still exist among living species on May 3, 2034.
An X poster named Little Grey Mouse lamented that he or she expected to see the extinction of “dozens” or cherished iconic animals “such as” the four described above, on May 3, 2024.
Roots offered his one hundred dollar bet almost immediately. Roots argues that the best way to save endangered species is to deregulate them and allow people to own, buy, sell, kill, cook, and eat the species. “Look at the landscape of endangered species around the world,” says Roots. “Species like Panda bears remain very endangered because they are all owned by the Chinese government. But species like tigers have rapidly recovered because they are fixtures of the exotic animal industry. ” If tigers were even less regulated, they would recover even faster, according to Roots.
“The only way that cheetahs, rhinos, orangutans and blue whales will become extinct in the next ten years,” according to Roots, is if governments increase laws and regulations regarding those species.
