I do think that there is good reason to make these decisions intentionally i.e. don&#x27;t drive species extinct by accident. But I&#x27;m not sure that an intentional thought process should lead to different conclusions. It depends on what the goals of conservation are.<p>Humans have, by our presence, drastically altered a variety of ecosystems in ways that can&#x27;t be undone. In the case of the Condor parasites, it&#x27;s unclear, but it&#x27;s possible that if the mites and lice had been left alive that would have been the difference that drove the condors extinct. A non-intervention approach might have extincted all three species.<p>A more extreme example: in the Galapagos, human-introduced flies have been killing the finches that inspired Darwin. A non-intervention approach is arguably the most natural, but this would likely cause the finches to go extinct. Intervening to kill the flies might save the finches, but it also involves ecosystem changes to kill the flies and interaction with the finches that demonstrably has already modified their behaviors. Ultimately, returning the finches to their original state is not an option, so any course conservation takes will result in an ecosystem that differs from what Darwin observed.<p>Given we can&#x27;t undo the changes we&#x27;ve already made, it makes sense to make these kinds of choices based on human factors. It makes sense to choose majestic condors over lice and mites, historically valuable finches survival over their unmodified behavior, human health over guinea worms, and human health over malaria and the mosquito populations that carry it. Extinction of mosquitoes in particular has far-reaching ecological effects which we should strive to understand and mitigate, but I doubt that any of those effects will be more compelling to me than the suffering caused by malaria.<p>A pragmatic view of conservation realizes that change is inevitable, and the best we can do is push that change in positive directions, and further, that &quot;positive&quot; is subjective.