BY: DUSTIN BATTY
Typically, urban areas are considered in opposition to natural areas. Cities have asphalt, concrete, and buildings; nature has soil, marshes, and trees. Cities have chaos and noise; nature has peace and quiet. Cities have humans; nature has animals.
Alissa York uses fiction to remind us that cities are not a strictly human space, that we share those spaces with a diverse range of animals, both domesticated and not. Her third novel, Fauna, explores the many ways in which the main characters interact with or are influenced by the animals around them. Set in Toronto, Fauna provides another perspective on the city, one that teams with non-human life.
York reveals this new perspective through a range of characters, including a federal wildlife officer on stress leave, a veterinary technician who specializes in dog physiotherapy, and an ex-military man who abhors death, even the deaths of animals. She also includes Darius, a character who exaggerates the standard view of urban areas. He believes that “the whole idea of living in cities [is] that we don’t live out in the wilderness with the animals anymore.” Through his thoughts and the dialogue that he has with one of the other characters, we can see how wrong—how problematic—this perspective is.
One very obvious problem with this point of view is that so many different animals actually live in the city. In fact, York breaks from the realism of the novel to write from the perspectives of six different city-dwelling species: raccoon, fox, skunk, squirrel, bat, and coyote. These passages describe some ways in which the animals have adapted to the urban environment. She also includes mice, rabbits, a hawk, and many others in the main narrative. It quickly becomes clear that Darius’ war against undomesticated animals is non-sensical. It is born of fear, hatred, and a deep misunderstanding of animals.
Darius looks at an animal and sees only either usefulness or danger. If an animal can be eaten, it should be killed for food. If it is dangerous, it should be killed before it can harm a human. He even despises animals that pose little threat, such as mice in a rail yard. He considers the city a space exclusively for humans, and if any animals manage to get in, it is “our job to get them out.”
The impossible logistics of removing all undomesticated animals from the city aside, there is a deep moral issue with this kind of attitude. Darius’ argument is very anthropocentric, or human-centred, uncaring of anything that is not human and ignorant of the consequences of his beliefs. It becomes clear in the novel that the barrier between humans and non-human animals is merely a social construct built on fear and perceived superiority. We humans tend to think that we are special, aloof from nature and ecosystems, when in fact we are simply a very intelligent and innovative invasive species.
Rather than think of ourselves inherently superior to other animals, though, York’s novel teaches us to consider the value of non-human life. She suggests that humans and animals are not so different, that even in urban areas, the animal “has a right to be here. To live out its life in the Don Valley or anywhere else.”
It is still important to be aware that undomesticated animals are not pets; they can be dangerous to humans in certain circumstances. The Urban Wildlife Working Group website encourages “the study of urban wild animal communities…to understand stressors on wildlife populations, species interactions, and sources of human-wildlife conflict.” They acknowledge that “human welfare and safety depend on a thorough understanding of urban wildlife and their interactions with the…landscape,” but they still encourage people who live in urban areas to develop “a connection to nature.”
An informed, considerate approach to urban wildlife is best, because it allows people to co-exist with these undomesticated animals without needlessly endangering themselves or the animals. And, though public awareness organizations such as The Urban Wildlife Working Group are great sources of information for those who want it, novels like Fauna are much more adept at initially introducing people to these issues because they give the reader a glimpse into the mind of characters who already know the importance of the issue, and they incite an emotional connection to the animals themselves. Fauna is a great resource for anyone who needs to shift their way of thinking about cities as ecosystems rather than pockets of humanity.