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Saving Sam the Koala: Natural Disasters and Animal Welfare
February 20, 2009
In a snapshot seen around the world, an Australian firefighter gives some water to a young koala lucky enough to survive the recent bushfires that devastated the southeastern state of Victoria. With almost 200 people dead and over 1800 houses destroyed, the human toll is horrendous enough, but wildlife experts estimate that millions of animals were killed in the ferocious infernos, including kangaroos, wombats, reptiles, native birds, and domestic livestock. And Irish vet Peter Wedderburn points out in his blog that the fires may have pushed some of Australia's endangered species to the brink of extinction.
Having helped to rescue abandoned pets during Hurricane Katrina, University of Colorado sociology professor Lesley Irvine knows first-hand the effects a disaster, whether natural or manmade, can have on animals. Coming in May from Temple University Press, her timely book, Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters (reviewed in the Feb. 15 print issue of LJ), examines our moral responsibility to our fellow creatures and urges that we rethink our policies regarding the treatment of animals during disasters. As the experience of Katrina shows us (when owners fleeing the city were forced to leave their pets), too often animal welfare is sacrificed in favor of human needs. 
Posted by Wilda Williams on February 20, 2009 | Comments (0)
