But what if it’s too late? Can there be advocates for the extinct? The point of the advocacy is to prevent their extinction. But what all these cases all have in common is that the objects of concern are still alive, if only just. The underdog needn’t be human: there are species of insect, even of fungi, that have their advocates. Sometimes, it is a language down to its last native speakers. Sometimes, it is a tribe of Indigenous people whose land and health are imperilled. Sometimes, it is a nation, threatened by a larger neighbour or by the rising sea. Sometimes, the underdog is an individual – a runt of a boxer, say. There’s a human type we’ve all met: people who find a beleaguered underdog to stick up for.
