In Great Britain, the gray squirrel is an invasive species. It was brought over in the 1800’s and quickly reproduced.
The problem? They carry a disease that kills native red squirrels.
The plan? Scientist plan to implant a gene into male gray squirrels to make sure female offspring are infertile. This way, no squirrels need to be killed, they’ll just never be brought into existence.
If their plan works, it could be a model for other invasive species across the globe. Invasive animals, I should say. I don’t think this model will work on plants, like kudzu in the American Southeast. Or fish, because of the inability to monitor all waterways.
This could be a model to control other invasive land-dwelling animals. More humane than Australia’s attempts to cull feral cats.
Not sure what kind of story could play out with this news article, but any futuristic dystopia could feature a curated environment. Any outdoor scenes could present with just the right amount of wildlife, calling into question if it can even be called wildlife at all.
Thinking in more fantastical terms, there could be a scenario where humans are treated this way on other worlds. There could be a massive collection of planets and civilizations, each of them affected by the invasive species known as humans. The story could highlight two humans from different planets who have been edited to make the female infertile, and the male could determine he would stay with her even though there are rumors of fertile women on another planet. The series aspect could either be other couples, on other planets, like common romance series, or it could follow these two as they visit different planets trying to find a scientist rumored to be able to reverse her condition.
It could be a sci-fi western, where the couple drops into various planets, helps the local population, then leaves on their search.
