What would Lonesome George ask?

Lonesome George (1912-2012) was the Pinta Island tortoise, the last of his subspecies, who was found dead on June 24, 2012 by Fausto Llerana, his caretaker of 40 years.  Tributes, memorials, obituaries were posted from all over the world for this "gentle giant," as he was fondly known.  

At the time of his death, Harvard University Press invited Craig Stanford, USC Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology and author of The Last Tortoise: A Tale of Extinction in Our Lifetime, to post his thoughts.  Professor Craig speculated, "If Lonesome George had been human, his obituary would have read:  
George passed away peacefully on June 24, 2012, at the age of approximately 100. He was born on Pinta Island around 1912 and lived there until 1971, when he moved to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador. He served his country for decades as the greatest tourist attraction in the Galapagos Islands, and was visited by tens of thousands of tourists each year. He dies leaving no surviving descendants."  

Rick Schwartz, San Diego Zoo ambassador commented that "George's passing is an opportunity to [show] humans our actions can have an impact on the future."  

Beginning with whaling ships in the 18th century, the estimated tortoise populations of the Galapagos Islands were decimated for food and trade, their habitats wiped out by the pigs and goats brought by fishermen, sailors and pirates.  Fifteen giant tortoise subspecies were reduced from 250,000 to 300,000 individuals to about 15,000 today in ten subspecies, most very rare.  

I doubt the 18th, 19th and 20th century men who had reason to stop by the Galapagos Islands and carry off thousands of tortoises while dropping off domestic livestock had any idea what the impact of their actions would be.  But we know better now.

Lonesome George became known as "the rarest creature on the planet" with no others of like kind and no offspring.  He was a beloved conservation icon.  His passing left us at a loss for someone to point to, so we could say, look at Lonesome George: he's the last and only one of his kind.  Let's be kinder to the creatures we share this Earth with.  Let's consider the impact of our actions.

We are now in the midst of what is being called The Sixth Mass Extinction, caused by human actions in the form of habitat destruction and as a result of global warming.  Scientists estimate at least 10,000 species go extinct every year, dozens every day, and by mid-century 30-50% of species currently alive will be extinct.

In that context, the passing of a lone tortoise seems insignificant, trivial; but I suggest Lonesome George would not agree, not for selfish reasons, but for the greater good.  I can imagine him asking us humans two simple questions, "Do you really want to do this?  Do you really want to destroy most of the life around you?"  Our actions say that we do.