Intertwined Lives: Animals in Mining Disasters in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract The issue of animals in high-risk situations is prominent in a world increasingly disrupted by socio-environmental disasters caused by big companies' activities and climate change. This paper focuses on the consequences for domestic and wild fauna caused by a colossal disaster in Mariana, Brazil, in 2015. I propose that disasters open a contact zone between humans and nonhuman animals. They bring insight into the connections of different living beings that share land, water and air. They establish a human-nonhuman border-crossing experience. Compensating programmes must consider a holistic dimension when evaluating the damage to be repaired, as all living beings and things are intertwined.