Animal Welfare in Disasters by Leslie Irvine

Do animals have a place on the ark? That is the question Leslie explores in Filling the Ark. From natural disasters to oil spills, animals are at risk of death and disease, but the way in which we use animals today has put them more at risk. Hurricane Katrina was a large-scale disaster with untold human impact, it was also responsible for at least 727,500 animals being killed in the city alone. Companion animals were abandoned and left to die, with those that survived often starving to death soon after. Those trying to evacuate with their dogs and cats were often forced to leave them behind, causing extreme psychological distress and the almost certain death of their pets.

Filling the ark does not just look at companion animals but the fate of those deemed least morally significant to humans. Factory farm animals and animals used in experimental research are left behind to die during disasters. During flooding in Louisiana, 8,000 animals being used in research were left to die at Louisiana State University. Factory farms often hold hundreds of thousands of animals in one location, making a hurricane or flood deadly on a scale previously unimaginable. Leslie argues that we must incorporate animals into existing response plans, but we also need to reduce animal vulnerability in the long term through changing the way we use animals.

“When disaster strikes, people are not the only ones who lose lives and homes, we are not the only victims.”

Title: Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters

Author: Leslie Irvine

ISBN: 978-1592138340

Publisher: Temple University Press

Leslie Irvine is an American Professor of Sociology and Director of the Animals and Society Certificate Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on animals in society and she has written a number of books on the subject.

Abdourahamane Ly, guest curator for Veganuary at Global Literature in Libraries Initiative, has been vegan for the past seven years now. He is extremely passionate about animal rights and encouraging more humans, especially Africans, to go vegan. He was born in Guinea in West Africa but spent the last 13 years in China. He is currently in Rwanda spreading the vegan message. You can follow him on Instagram at @fulanivegan and X at @fulanivegan.