124 / Conclusion
live on the coasts? In addition to the cognitive obstacles we face
when questioning our uses of animals, there are economic, practi-
cal, selfi sh, and sentimental obstacles, too. Convincing people that
animals deserve better treatment is easy. Convincing them of the
need for real change—not just bigger cages—is much more diffi -
cult. As Matthew Scully writes, in discussions about our treatment
of animals, “it is always just one step from the mainstream to the
fringe. To condemn the wrong is obvious, to suggest its abolition
is radical.”^20
I
n the 1975 movie Jaws, when Chief Brody (played by Roy Schei-
der) saw the shark for the fi rst time, he uttered the now-famous
line, “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” In many ways, that state-
ment sums up the current state of affairs involving animals and di-
sasters. The situation is more serious than we imagined. We have
fi lled the ark; there are no bigger boats. The hopeful message of
this book is that once we realize how we make animals vulnerable
to disasters we can begin to question and change the practices that
put them at risk.
The events I depict offer but a selective glimpse of how we
endanger the animals we care for and rely on so heavily. In closing,
I want to mention other situations so that they, too, might spark
compassionate consideration. For example, I have not discussed
what happens to animals because of our desire to look at them
whenever we please. In 2002, over 150 birds and animals died when
fl oodwaters overcame the Prague Zoo. During Katrina, 10,000 fi sh
suffocated when the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans lost
power. Although some argue that zoos and aquariums are them-
selves a “Noah’s Ark” for endangered species, evidence indicates
that most facilities serve purely entertainment purposes.^21 Thus,
we put millions of birds, animals, and fi sh at risk for the most triv-
ial of human interests. I have also not discussed war, which is cur-
rently wreaking havoc on animals of all kinds in many places on
the globe. The American invasion of Baghdad left the animals in the
city’s zoo and the Hussein family’s palaces stranded and starving.^22
Wildlife in war zones face risks from munitions, land mines, hab-