When is it right to kill for conservation? It’s a complex ethical question. In this thought-provoking Nautilus interview, Brandon Keim, the author of Meet the Neighbors, talks with ecologist and conservationist Hugh Warwick, whose 2024 book, The Cull of the Wild, focuses on the subject of conservation killing. Both writers share thought-provoking insights, especially on animal personhood and the idea that all creatures deserve our respect and love.
[Warwick:] When I lecture on trophy hunting here at Oxford, I’ll often ask my students, “Do you think it matters what level of enjoyment the person doing the culling gets out of it? Is it better that the person who does it is giggling with glee every time they kill something? Or that they shed a tear?” For me this is a really profound question.
[Keim:] I worry that killing will make people callous and drive kind-hearted people away from conservation. Or that it could have ripple effects: In the book you mention kids in New Zealand playing with the dead bodies of possums and dressing them up. It’s widely understood that cruelty to animals is a symptom of deep disturbance—yet as conservationists we’re tacitly approving that mentality in some places. Do you think there’s a danger in that?
[Warwick:] I think there is less danger now because conversations are being had. People are thinking about it.
