Countless Australians risk their lives to save animals during bushfires and floods - why do they do it?

A PhD Scholarship is available on the ARC DECRA Project ‘Should I stay or should I go? Increasing natural disaster preparedness and survival through animal attachment’ to work with principle supervisor Dr Kirrilly Thompson who is based in the Adelaide Campus of Central Queensland University.

Countless Australians risk their lives to save animals during bushfires and floods. Many die. Animal attachment theories explain this heroic but self-destructive behaviour. However, they have not been extended to prevent it. What if the risk in wanting to save animals was also an untapped protective opportunity?

This project will determine how people’s motivation to save animals during natural disasters could be used to increase preparedness and improve survival.

By interviewing and surveying survivors of natural disasters about the impact of animals on their emergency behaviour, this innovative project will develop effective public health campaigns to improve natural disaster preparedness and save Australian lives. The project commences in 2013. For further details, click here. [pdf]