Wild Souls

Winner of the 2022 Rachel Carson Environment Book Award. Winner of the 2022 Science in Society Journalism Award (Books). Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize""Thoughtful, insightful, and wise, Wild Souls is a landmark work.""-Ed Yong, author of An Immense World""Fascinating hands-on philosophy, put to test in the real world Marris believes that our idea of wildness-our obsession with purity-is misguided. No animal remains untouched by human hands the science isn't the hard part. The real challenge is the ethics, the act of imagining our appropriate place in that world."" -Outside MagazineFrom an acclaimed environmental writer, a groundbreaking and provocative new vision for our relationships with-and responsibilities toward-the planet's wild animals. Protecting wild animals and preserving the environment are two ideals so seemingly compatible as to be almost inseparable. But in fact, between animal welfare and conservation science there exists a space of underexamined and unresolved tension- wildness itself. When is it right to capture or feed wild animals for the good of their species? How do we balance the rights of introduced species with those already established within an ecosystem? Can hunting be ecological? Are any animals truly wild on a planet that humans have so thoroughly changed? No.