Ethical Values in Wildlife Management
The treatment of wild animals is a complex and responsible process that requires compliance with high ethical standards, caution, and professionalism. Firstly, the ethical values that can be safely prescribed for treating wild animals are care and respect for animal life. Treatment should be carried out considering that each animal organism has its own characteristics and requires an individual approach. Moreover, doctors should strive to preserve the life of a wild animal, even if it requires considerable effort.
Responsibility and honesty can also be distinguished among the ethical values in treating wild animals. Doctors are obliged to be responsible for any harm caused to the animal during treatment (Swart, 2008). One of the most important ethical values is the observance of the law. Treatment should be carried out by the legislation regulating wildlife protection. Doctors should also consider the impact of treatment on the environment and take measures to protect it.
The Role of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
The ESA (Endangered Species Act) does not fully cover the problem of treatment and restoration of wild endangered species of animals. According to Soulé et al. of the study, “the current criteria for the restoration of endangered mammal species, by ESA, tend to ignore interspecific interactions completely” (Soulé et al., 2005). I think there should be more measures to protect endangered species. The law must consider the description of each species and animal and interspecific interactions to help them recover as a species (Soulsbury et al., 2020).
Finding a Balance in Wildlife Ethics and Management
Some ethical values in treating wild animals may be strictly situational, problematic, or need further development. For example, whether it is necessary to treat a wild animal or perform euthanasia (Fox & Bekoff, 2011). Some animals may be terminally ill or have injuries that affect their quality of life. It is also situational to decide to interfere with natural selection, especially if this could result in alterations in the population’s genetic makeup.
References
Fox, C. H., & Bekoff, M. (2011). Integrating values and ethics into wildlife policy and management—lessons from North America. Animals, 1(1), 126-143. Web.
Soulé, M. E., Estes, J. A., Miller, B., & Honnold, D. L. (2005). Strongly interacting species: conservation policy, management, and ethics. BioScience, 55(2), 168-176. Web.
Soulsbury, C. D., Gray, H. E., Smith, L. M., Braithwaite, V., Cotter, S. C., Elwood, R. W.,… & Collins, L. M. (2020). The welfare and ethics of research involving wild animals: A primer. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11(10), 1164-1181. Web.
Swart, J. A. (2008). The Ecological Ethics Framework: Finding our Way in the Ethical Labyrinth of Nature Conservation: Commentary on “Using an ecological ethics framework to make decisions about relocating wildlife”. Science and engineering ethics, 14(4), 523-526. Web.