Jurassic Bark: Dire Wolves Are Back—And So Is the War on the Endangered Species Act

Jurassic Bark: Dire Wolves Are Back—And So Is the War on the Endangered Species Act

Last week, biotech startup Colossal Biosciences announced it had successfully brought the dire wolf back from extinction, using ancient DNA and the kind of science that sounds like it escaped from a Michael Crichton fever dream. Welcome to the era of de-extinction—where if it died out 12,000 years ago, we can apparently just ctrl+Z that mistake.

Cool science, right? Sure. But here’s the twist: this isn't just about reviving lost species. It's about reviving a loophole.

Enter Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who wasted zero time posting, “The only thing we’d like to see go extinct is the need for the endangered species list.” Which is like saying, “We cured a cold once, so we should abolish hospitals.”

Let’s be clear: the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a landmark law passed in 1973 that protects vulnerable species and the habitats they call home. It keeps industries from bulldozing ecosystems and turning fragile species into footnotes.

But now, with de-extinction tech making headlines, the Trump administration and GOP allies are pushing to dismantle the ESA altogether. Their logic? If we can bring species back from the dead, why bother protecting them in the first place?

Spoiler alert: that logic is completely backward.

Colossal’s dire wolves were made with gray wolf cells and domestic dog eggs—which makes them more science project than true resurrection. It’s not conservation; it’s biotech cosplay. Meanwhile, actual gray wolves—the very foundation of this Frankenwolf experiment—are still on the chopping block, with Congress pushing to remove their protections.

Bottom line: de-extinction doesn't replace conservation—it distracts from it. It's not a miracle cure. It’s a shiny toy dangled in front of lawmakers who’d rather play God than protect nature.

And if we’re not careful, the only thing truly going extinct will be our environmental laws.