Aging Gracefully: Compassion for Nonhuman Animal Elders

Abstract

Many nonhuman animals (hereafter animals) grow old within zoos. Aging ani- mals undergo innumerable bodily and mental changes, some of which lead to suffering and keep them from flourishing while others move them towards other roles, opportunities, and standing. Those who take care of aging animals are con- fronted with various moral considerations of what it takes to care for these ani- mals. Increased human intervention in the later stages of the lives of animals can make it more difficult to find one’s bearings. Conspecifics in the wild gradually become less of a guide for shaping the lives of geriatric animals in confined spaces. Perhaps to take care is to be responsive to the individual animal, both to understand how they have been shaped by living their lives within a zoo and to explore and make available ways for them to continue to exert agency over the later stages of their lives. Moral deliberation helps to engage with the moral issues of taking care. Compassion comprises a vital part of moral deliberation and appears especially promising to care for animals in the later stages of their lives.