The Wild in Fire: Human Aid to Wildlife in the Disasters of the Anthropocene

Abstract

Should you help a wild rabbit fleeing a wall of flame? What is our responsibility to wildlife affected by wildfire? This paper focuses on two cases of ad hoc public aid to wildlife that occurred during California's 2017 'Thomas Fire' and were subsequently popularised online. We take the discourse surrounding these cases - specifically, a viral video of a man removing a wild rabbit from the fire's flames and the widespread call to leave out buckets of water for displaced animals - as an invitation to engage in broader ethical and theoretical discussion about our individual relationships to wild animals during the age of ecological crisis termed the Anthropocene. Through this case analysis, we identify emerging tensions between what we call 'interventionist' and 'anti-interventionist' positions and assert that, while anti-interventionist positions are generally framed in rational, empirical or technocratic terms, a full consideration of already-existing human entanglements with the natural world troubles this frame. We conclude that the Anthropocene presents unique circumstances that give substantial support to the interventionist position; at the same time, we continue to uphold the value of key critiques present in the anti-interventionist argument, which might yet help to shape the most effective form of human aid to wild animals and alleviate problems of ecological sustainability, more broadly.

Ecocentrism and Biosphere Life Extension

“…A similar but more recent discussion concerns whether humans should intervene to protect wildlife against disasters such as forest fires. Here, interventionists argue that the natural world and human civilization are now so intertwined that what happens in the natural world becomes our concern (McCumber & King, 2020 ). Other interventionists have argued that large-scale interventions are justified because it is our primary duty to prevent harm (Johannsen, 2020 ).…”

The Ethics of Human Intervention on Behalf of ‘Others’

“…Criticism of 'business as usual' and 'sloppy' or manipulative democracy call for systemic political change (e.g. Machin, 2019). Any progress along such 'new' trajectories may help alleviate millennials' deep-seated angst about environmental thresholds being surpassed, and their frustration about not seeing policies and actions to secure their future from world leaders and decision-makers.…”