Chopping down 150 year old Holmes Oak trees in North Wales because they are not native (whatever that means) may seem the harmless actions of some purists of mind in Natural Resources Wales (the environmental “regulator”).
But it is a step on a very dangerous road.
It led, a few days ago, to the killing (in a cynical and theatrical way) of Marius the baby giraffe, because Copenhagen Zoo say the EU don’t allow “in breeding”.
And a decade ago it led to the slaughter of Ruddy Ducks being endorsed by – of all people – the RSPB, as they breed with White Headed Ducks and spoil their genetic purity.
Sweden was caught having practiced eugenics on humans for decades – between 1935 and 1976 over 60,000 young Swedish women were forcibly sterilised, to improve the human gene pool.
We all know what happened in the 1930s, with the Nazis seeking to protect and improve the “blood purity” of the human species.
Weeding out some old trees may seem innocent enough, but who is to say who will end up being “weeded out” when this way of thinking is pursued to its logical end?