Follow the White Moose

Humans as a group are funny.  We like to try and help the environment.  We try and help animals that "need" helping.  Often, we don't understand the implications or the possible outcomes, but we do what we think is right anyway.

One example: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/albinomoose.asp.  So, what is the right thing to do if we see a strange mutation in a species?  The human reaction is to "protect" it.  Lets preserve the white moose.  What is really happening?  Why is it important to preserve this rarity?  I think that people have been conditioned to consider rarity as valuable.  So, if we find something rare, we should treat it differently.  Really I don't know what kind of effect we might have on the animal population as a whole, but if we're hunting brown moose and protecting white moose, doesn't that have an effect on the gene pool?  Is that good for the species?  Is it good for the ecosystem in general?  What will the world be like 30 generations from now when 20% of moose are white instead of the small minority we have now?