Toward Ethical Intervention in the Anthropocene: Saving Animals from Wildfires

Abstract

The discourse on wild animal suffering has evolved around two primary arguments. One highlights our ethical responsibilities toward wild animal suffering due to human actions. The other promotes benevolent duties to wild animals, regardless of human involvement. Human activities have transformed the biosphere into an anthroposphere, causing chaotic processes that worsen the lives of wild animals. If animals inhabit an anthroposphere, we bear responsibilities to them, challenging the anthropocentric view that moral duties extend only to humans. This article decentralizes anthropocentrism by recognizing our responsibility to assist wild animals affected by new generation wildfires. To this end, it explores the value of animals, their moral consideration, and the implications of prioritizing their interests. Recognizing the limits of intervention in nature, it offers a pragmatic response to the wild animal suffering with proactive measures such as climate refuges and predator control in response to the challenges posed by extreme wildfires.