ABSTRACT
Several recent scholarly works have stressed the importance of bridging the gap between animal rights and ecological conservation in the Anthropocene. As much as they consider welfare an important aspect of their work, the proponents of medical conservation and One Health regard their efforts through a different lens than that of compassionate conservationists and wildlife welfarists. Ecologist Richard Ostfeld was quoted saying in this context that conservation medicine has an important role to play in making explicit the linkages between wildlife veterinary medicine, conservation biology, and epidemiology. Zoo Veterinarians reflected on the reversal of the object–subject divide, when humans, because of their ability to talk, are treated more like objects, whereas animals, who are valued in their wildness and authenticity, are treated humanely. In January 2020, veterinarians from across the country and from around the world came together in Australia to treat wildlife affected by the fires, which were likely exacerbated by the droughts and higher temperatures of climate change.
