Man messes with nature everyday; this is just an example that the media has decided will get you excited.
This particular instance isn't likely to ever expand enough to matter. They're not going to be released, let a lone "reintroduced" anywhere. Best case, they end up making someone a load of money in a pay-per-view venue (zoo).
If there's a danger here, it's in what man will learn. Or maybe, in what he already knows.
Much of your food is already genetically engineered or altered, willfully or accidentally, by man. Look at a farm... How much land is devoted to agriculture? How much of what's grown is "naturally-occurring" in the form that we now see as "normal". Ever seen a wild cornstalk? Or tomato plant? Does it matter that so much of the globe is covered with non-native, human-altered organisms? Even our animals are altered. Dogs didn't start out the way they are now... They were created by man. Cows, pigs, goldfish...
Beyond that, our actions move naturally-occurring organisms into ecosystems where they don't belong. Carp (several kinds), Zebra Mussels, pheasants, starlings, horses, to name a few.
What about disease engineering?
There's real damage being done every second by man. If you want to worry about something, there's plenty out there. I wouldn't get too excited about a mammoth. I'd be excited about what he did to learn enough to make a mammoth, or what he learns as a result.
The sick thing about it is that we all benefit as a result of this type of thing... We're addicted to it, and couldn't stop it if we tried.
This type of "tinkering" is why my daughter didn't die from her liver problems at 2 months of age, or from her brain problems at age five. It's why I didn't die from something as simple as a burst appendix last fall. It's why our population has exploded. It's why we don't die in large numbers during severe winters, or in greater numbers from the flu, or from measles.
It's not fair that they might live in captivity if they're cloned??? Seriously? Life isn't fair. It was never intended to be (not a religious statement, it can be read both ways). Fairness is a human concept. To make life fair would be going against nature.
