Noah’s Task / 117in disasters of other kinds. With oil spills, where we are clearly at
fault, some intervention is ethical, provided it follows the guide-
lines and procedures developed by professional rehabilitators. In
most spills, rescue efforts should focus on endangered or threat-
ened species; in others, the victims should be euthanized. As I point
out in Chapter 3, when large amounts of time, labor, and money
go into saving birds and animals who will soon die despite our
efforts—or because of them—we have to question our motives.
The discussion of what to do for affl icted birds and animals often
involves politics and public relations, rather than strictly humani-
tarian actions. The sea otters in the Exxon Valdez spill are a case in
point. Public outcry forced action, even though no plan was in place
for the otters before the spill. Millions of dollars went into a highly
publicized attempt to “rescue” a few hundred animals. Many died
while being “rescued,” and many others did not survive long after
being released. Had the spill affected a species with a lower “cute-
ness” factor, thus lower on the sociozoologic scale, the pleas would
not have been so loud or so frequent. Moreover, Exxon most likely
would not have poured so much money into a species that would
not have bolstered its public image the way the sea otters did.
The discussion of oil spills raises the larger question of what we
should do for wildlife in disasters. As in a spill, the best response
might often be not to step in to try to save or rescue animals. How-
ever, different species elicit different responses. For example, fol-
lowing record snowfall in Colorado in 2007–2008, the nightly news
began showing fi lm of desperate mule deer struggling through
hard-crusted, chest-deep snow to fi nd food. Hungry elk began pillag-
ing farmers’ haystacks. The Division of Wildlife (DOW) monitored
the herds in especially hard hit areas and on January 26 reported,
“Despite scientifi c and visual assurances that wildlife health is not
seriously threatened at this time, DOW offi ces are being fl ooded
with calls and e-mails from concerned citizens that want immediate
action.”^9 Under normal circumstances, feeding and “baiting” wild
animals is prohibited, and the practice of emergency winter feeding
of wildlife is highly controversial. There is concern about habituat-
ing animals to humans. Deer seem to adapt well to harsh conditions