A new species of bird that was discovered on a remote island in the Philippines has made the news recently. The bird is not only flightless but also is the first species to be discovered there since 1903. The picture itself is disconcerting, to say the least – clearly, the bird struggles within man’s grasp. Having lived for years in an area where there are no roads and few to no people, the question arises: What will happen to this bird now that it has been discovered?

As Americans, we are all too familiar with development. But development can be a detriment to creatures that live their lives in the shadow of our own. I’ve done a lot of driving this summer, and as I’ve scuttled back and forth, I’ve found it hard (harder than usual) not to notice the increasing amount of roadkill.

Now, you may say it’s inevitable. We as a human race are obliged to proliferate and populate, and because animals are in the middle of – or, as some say, in the way of – that progress, it’s only necessary that they be the ones to endure the aftermath of our efforts. Better them than us, right?

But it’s not a question of superiority. It’s a question of responsibility. Decades ago, statistics showed that more than one million animals met their fate on the roadside. Logically, the numbers only could have increased since then.

But development is not the only danger. Some animals live in isolation, meaning they are not in direct contact with humans and inhabit an area that poses no real predatory threat.

It may sound like the perfect opportunity for a species to flourish, and it is. But it also can put them at higher risk for extinction were they to finally come into contact with us.

Why? They would not know how to recognize the danger. History shows that it is all too easy for these animals to be killed off because of what biologists call “ecological naiveté.” Look at the dodo, for example.

It’s easy to justify the damage by saying that it’s all a part of progress – natural selection. But the next time you find yourself making excuses for that dead body along the highway, remember that animals were here long before we came into the picture, and their deaths are not a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

They’re exactly where they’re supposed to be. If anything, it is humans who have infringed upon their territory, and it’s our responsibility to give them alternative ways of migration rather than making them dodge traffic. Luckily, some progress already has been made with the implementation of wildlife underpasses and roadside monitoring systems.

It may be impossible to keep ourselves from interacting in some form with the world’s remaining virgin habitat. However, that does not mean we can’t take the necessary precautions to ensure animals within that habitat remain as safe as possible and that the number killed in the name of progress does not increase anymore than it already has. As Chris Maddy of Hycor Biomedical says: “A true environmentalist thinks of how he can accommodate nature, not how it can accommodate him.”

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.