An ontological politics of multispecies care

wildlife protection in Costa Rica during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Coyotes (Canis latrans) making nocturnal tours through universities and suburban cities. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) playing with their babies near famous beaches. Tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) walking on routes and trails made for human visitors in protected wildlife areas. Colombian white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus) missing their human friends to share exotic food with. Wildlife sighting reports in urban centers during the lockdown of Covid-19 pandemic became a significant event around the world. This essay explores one of the most paradoxical aspects of the Covid-19 outbreak: wildlife takes to the streets. Nowadays, climate change and habitat degradation are causing the emergence of new threats to human and environmental health. In this essay we propose a critical reflection on the ethical-political and pedagogical implications of wildlife sightings during the lockdown of Covid-19 pandemic and their relationship with biodiversity conservation public programs. We propose that sightings can affect more than human geographies. Human-animal interactions during lockdown could alter the human perception of landscapes and multispecies coexistence. We are also interested in how technological interfaces could change the ontological status of human-animal interactions. These issues can generate an alternative set of cognitive and knowledge resources to understand human-animal assemblages in a more comprehensive way, which would lead to a new ethics of multispecies coexistence. We mobilize a theoretical framework based on so-called ontological turn in social sciences. The Anthropocene is considered as a symbolic resource to problematize blind trust in linear narratives of apolitical techno-scientific progress, and not only as a geological epoch characterized by human dominance. Finally, attention is drawn to the need to overcome instrumental visions of the category "nature". We suggest that ontological politics of multispecies care can contribute to strengthening biodiversity conservation public programs through exploration of emotional and affective ecologies.