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The Bio-Zoopolitics of U.S. Military Working Dog Policy in the U.S. “War on Terror”
Full text linkThis paper analyzes the differential positioning of military working dogs in U.S. militarypolicy with particular attention to the period from 2000-2023, during which, among other shifts, thesedogs were reclassified within U.S. law and military code from “expendable equipment” to “militaryanimals.” This time also aligns with the time of the U.S. “war on terror.”1 The paper draws on feministand postcolonial animal studies to consider the larger cultural contexts under which these shiftsemerged, particularly within the biopolitical and racialized contexts of this war. Considering the culturalcontexts of these legislative shifts helps illuminate the biopolitical and zoopolitical entanglements ofanimality, nationalism, and war in determining how military working dogs gain a certain limited “rightto life” through U.S. military policy within the racialized sacrificial economies of this war
The Living Stock of Antiquity
Full text linkThe human species is often painted as a perennially productive one. Human animals, through millennia of evolving skills, aptitudes, and awareness, have rendered ourselves, according to our hierarchically pattern seeking minds, at the top of an ostensibly ‘natural’ tree of life. So the tale, in the unique vernaculars of countless disciplines, is often told. We now live in an age where that tale is starting to be seriously and massively questioned and unravelled. Lenses of care, collaboration, and cooperation are blossoming. This article serves as a small part of that movement: to question and reappraise the once ‘perennial’ dominance of ‘man’ and seek a better comprehension of that narrative. It does this by honing in on one of the most dominant assumptions that have pervaded ‘man’s’ relationship with ‘animal’: that non-human animals have been ‘used productively for human gain’ (in other words, ‘exploited’) for so long that there must be something ‘natural’ about this use. This article serves, then, as less of a challenge to the expansive timeline of human animals’ use of non-human animal, and more of a ‘awareness expanding tool’ of where and how this use arose in some of the earliest examinable periods of our species’ history. By digging deeper into both the zooarchaeological and related written source materials that reveal elements of this ‘use relationship’ during distinct ‘snapshots’ of ancient world, we may bolster the seriousness of critiquing the ‘naturalness’ of this relationship. Only from such ‘points of un-revelation’ can the consequential harms of this dominant narrative be truly appreciated, and subsequently unwound for the sake of the non-human animals that are continually and massively exploited in our modern world
Radiant Ecologies: The Biopolitics of Animal Photography in Exclusion Zones
Full text linkThis article wishes to examine photographic representations of animal life in the postdisasterlandscapes of Chernobyl and Fukushima. It seeks to articulate how documentary andinvestigative modes employed by a visual repertoire developed in relation to these disaster zones,intersect with a biopolitical imaginary, which, by creating an ontological collapse and interchangeabilitybetween radioactive spaces and nonhuman materialities – including the matter of animal lives– enactsan exclusionary paradigm that is rooted in speciesist violence. A common trope used to frame animalsin these sites of nuclear disaster is that of resilience and rewilding. This framing has been deployed inrecent times by scientific analyses (James Smith, Nick Beresford et. al., 2019, 2005; Lyons et. al., 2020)as well as popular discourses to depict animals, particularly wildlife, as prolific and invasive, governedby an inhuman excess that allows them to thrive in environments otherwise hostile to humans. Thisnarrative of an alien affinity towards forms of toxicity, while positioning animals on a common spectrumof danger and alterity in which they share attributes of anarchic and uncontained growth, dispersal, andmutation with nuclear waste and the action of radioactivity, simultaneously obscures other narrativesof precarity and harm accruing to nonhuman lives and habitats through their proximity to nuclearpollution, and pollution's ties with anthropogenic, military-industrial regimes. (Sohtome et. al., 2014;Itoh 2018). Drawing on recent work by Elaine Gan, Anna Tsing, and Kate Brown, my paper explores thefiguration of animals in disaster zone imagery in relation to questions of ruination, haunting, decay, andwaste as constituting what Tsing calls "disturbance regimes." (2015) The nexus of toxic exposures andecocidal effects of nuclearization of environments not only impinges on existing ecological relations,altering and corroding these, but also enforces new and saturated chemical ecologies. Through a closereading of the works of Julia Oldham, Yasusuke Ota, and Pierpaolo Mittica, my article engages with theimplicit dialogue between such radioactive ecologies in post-disaster sites in the wake of evacuation andabandonment, and the ways in which visual media, particularly photography, participate in theseecological (dis)arrangements by encoding animal life and its survival in the post-human aftermath ofhuman departure, within various symbolic and semantic codes, codes whose stability is furtherchallenged and complicated by what Daniel Burkner (2015) identifies as the material politics ofphotographing radioactive spaces
From Local to Global
Full text linkThe ever-increasing global animal death rate in disasters is a product of our anthropocentric bias. The disasters, unfortunately, do not discriminate and devastate both human and animal life, further exacerbating climate change. Institutions such as factory farming are major drivers of such disasters and as a result, we need an immediate inclusion of an animal disaster protection framework in International and national disaster laws as a mechanism to prevent disasters and ensure human and animal safety
Panda Saves the Day: Implementing Panda Diplomacy to Safeguard Diplomatic Animals
Full text linkDiplomatic animals have been used as a tool to strengthen good will among nations since ancient history. Animal species such as pandas, elephants, koalas, dogs, and various other animals are often gifted within nations. Once the animals are sent as diplomatic animals, the standard practice is such that the sending country has no ownership, claim or responsibility over those animals and does not interfere with any aftermath. These animals are then protected by the animal protection laws and policies in their new residing country.
It is essential that diplomatic animals are provided with the necessary care and facilities which were available for them in their native country. However, there are ample examples where diplomatic animals have been mistreated and neglected. For instance, Kaavan who was once considered the world’s loneliest elephant was sent from Sri Lanka as a diplomatic animal to Pakistan in 1985. He was confined in an enclosure in the Islamabad Zoo together with a female elephant called Saheli. Saheli died in 2012 which deeply affected Kaavan who started showing signs of stress and aggression. As a result, the zookeepers kept him chained in isolation and poor living conditions. Kaavan was later rescued by a global campaign called ‘Free the Wild’ and the Islamabad High Court issued an order to immediately relocate Kaavan. Even though Kaavan was evidently suffering in the Islamabad Zoo from 2012 until he was relocated in a sanctuary in 2020, the government of Sri Lanka did not interfere with the situation since it is not appropriate as per the traditions and normative practice.
On the other hand, as per the concept of Panda Diplomacy all the Pandas in the world are owned by China and they are given to other nations as loans. It not only protects the animals which are directly sent by China, but also any off-springs that are born. The research question is whether panda diplomacy can be utilised to develop an international framework to protect the diplomatic animals against cruelty and mistreatment, mandate both nations to take due care of the animal and ensure its physical and mental well-being.
The research hypothesis is that the concept of panda diplomacy can be used as a framework to continue the duty and the responsibility of a country towards diplomatic animals, and even used as a mechanism to hold the countries liable if they have knowingly mistreated or neglected such diplomatic animals.
Thereby, the research first discusses examples of how diplomatic animals are subject to cruelty and mistreatment and the necessity of imposing the duty of care on both nations which are involved in the diplomatic relations. The in-depth analysis of panda diplomacy is helpful in establishing a responsibility to ensure that such animals are protected with utmost care in their new locations. Thereby, the research suggests to implement an international convention to protect diplomatic animals and provides recommendations as to how to develop such an international legal obligation to prioritise the welfare of diplomatic animals without tarnishing the relations among nations
Sheep Fatigue During Transport: Analysis of EU Regulatory Framework, Scientific Knowledge, and Stakeholder Perceptions
No full textAnimals as Assets in Debt Collection Procedures
Full text linkThe paper outlines the legal rules pertaining to the treatment of animals as assets for debt collection in Germany and America. A comparative analysis reveals striking similarities and fundamental differences at the same time, which are explained against the background of both legal systems’ wider context. Finally, the paper turns to the lessons to be learned for the further development of animal law. Especially sections 811(3) and 765a(1) of the German Code of Civil Procedure are identified as commendable examples of laws that protect animals without neglecting the legitimate interests of humans
Procedure Severity Assessments in Animal Research: Ethical and Practical Considerations
Full text linkProcedure severity assessments are required for certain types of animal research. While the concept exists in many jurisdictions, each takes a different approach, resulting in the same procedure potentially being categorized differently, and being subject to different requirements (or none at all). The severity assessment frameworks in the EU, Israel, Canada, and Switzerland are considered and applied to a hypothetical blood withdrawal from a Giant Pacific Octopus. The note considers whether we can ever be sure that we understand the experience of pain of another species, in particular a species that is evolutionarily distant from and poorly understood by humans, and whether our ethical obligations could ever be met in the context of severity assessments
Global scoping of wildlife crime offences, penalties, and statistics
Full text linkAt a time of escalating biodiversity and climate crises, there is an urgent need to effectively respond to harms and crimes toward wildlife and the environment. This study gathers information for a global scoping analysis of wildlife offences and penalties, and of the availability of crime statistics. This is a starting point for assessing the effectiveness of mainstream criminal justice responses (fines and prison) to wildlife crime and a baseline for comparing restorative justice as an alternative approach. We examine 1,256 pieces of legislation from 185 countries to assess the scope of wildlife-related offences and their corresponding penalties. The analysis shows that penalties are highly varied around the globe, although fines and imprisonment are the predominant response. What counts as a wildlife offence is highly variable across wildlife, forestry, fisheries, and environmental legislation. This also makes for differences in the way government departments identify and prosecute wildlife offences. To display the complexity of the data we introduce a publicly available dashboard and database detailing offence types and penalties, including restorative and non-custodial actions. We then make a rapid assessment of the availability of official sources of wildlife crime statistics, highlighting how very few countries make this information publicly available. This limits our ability to assess whether wildlife offences are being sanctioned as the law requires and whether enforcement reduces re-offending. To make wildlife crime prevention and disruption strategies more effective, better data on wildlife law enforcement and its long-term impacts are urgently needed
Ensuring Livestock Welfare at Slaughter in the US: Still A Long Way To Go
Full text linkUS legislation aimed at protecting livestock welfare at pre-slaughter handling and during slaughter falls far short of being an effective, comprehensive, and modern law. While its implementation several decades ago has resulted in modest improvements and some of the most egregious practices have been outlawed, the legislation's impact remains limited. In addition to its limited scope and scant enforcement, the legislation has not kept up with scientific developments. Further, the legislation raises ethical concerns by failing to appropriately consider the interests of animals in situations in which slaughter without stunning remains allowed. The legislation remains deeply deficient on a number of fronts; much more is needed to ensure livestock welfare at slaughter.