B. THE MAIN IDEA OF THE PASSAGE IS THAT EFFORTS TO PRESERVE SPECIES...

6. b. The main idea of the passage is that efforts to preserve species through interbreeding will onlybackfire, pushing a particular endangered species farther down the road to extinction. The passage’sstatistics show how the interbreeding has accomplished this in the case of the Florida panther. TheTexas panther is not described, so choice ais incorrect. The author does not attack general wildlifeprotection policies—indeed, no policies are mentioned, only the specific handling of this panther pop-ulation—so choice cis incorrect. Human encroachment was a main threat to the panthers (choiced),but the author did not discuss how encroachment harmed the species. Only a brief history of panthersin Florida is provided, so choiceeis incorrect.