By Luke Steele, Masters student at the University of Bradford, Managing Director and Spokesperson of Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire’s Moors At first glance, the Hen Harrier Recovery Plan (DEFRA, 2016) looks positive: a protection scheme for at-risk hen harriers that looks to give one of England’s rarest birds of prey a renewed foothold in the uplands. However, this brood management project may do more harm than good, even though Natural England, the government’s habitats regulator, has been clear that […]
Review by Erin Lanza, student at BPP University Gary Francione, the controversial legal scholar, author, and professor of animal rights, begins this book with a promise: ‘This book is about a revolution––a revolution of the heart’. A promoter of creative, nonviolent vegan education for more than 30 years, Francione argues for a stance on animal rights that invokes a necessary paradigm shift in human perception of nonhuman animals. In this 2015 book, co-written with Anna Charlton, his ideals and positions […]
by Sophie Lunn The Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber), formerly a native inhabitant of Britain, became locally extinct in the 16th century due to anthropogenic persecution and the classification of their species as vermin. Some studies show bounties placed on the head of the beaver well after this time, demonstrating perhaps a distaste towards the species. Since then, much scientific evidence has shown the necessary role the beaver plays in our ecosystem, showing them as ecosystem engineers for their great impact in natural flood management. […]
by Emma Hinds Like many other people in lockdown, I have turned to Netflix for solace. One of the shows dominating public conversation lately is Tiger King. With murder, mayhem, and madness, it’s the ultimate binge show, but alongside meme-worthy content it also provides a horrifying insight into the wild cats trade in America. As a UK citizen, I watched this show with my jaw on the floor, shouting out “This would never happen here!” At least, that was what […]
By Adithi Rao, student at ILS Law College, Pune, India During this pandemic, the Indian judiciary has been open only for urgent matters, which included a writ petition filed by a gentleman in Eranakulam, Kerala. Due to the rampant closures of lockdowns, the man experienced a specific problem in taking care of his pets. Fortunately, the details of his petition caught the attention of the bench sitting at the Kerala High Court, and they decided to hear the matter through […]
By Mina da Rui, LLM student In 21st century Great Britain, legal reasoning paths are slowly widening as human rights, environmental dysfunction, and animal injustice come to the fore of public consciousness. Animal law is a niche area of law, a tentative but growing jurisprudence. This growth paved the way for an animal law success story recently, one that captured the imagination of our nation’s people, governments, parliaments, media, and celebrities, after almost 10 years of hard campaigning. Author Marc […]
By Erin Lanza During the early part of 2020, environmental and animal advocates turned their attention toward the devastating losses of wildlife in Australia. In a vastly different habitat, irresponsible human activity threatens the lives of seahorses. These animals now face a risk of extinction due to water pollution in coral reefs, mangrove swamps, and sea-grass beds in coastal regions. Indeed, Save Our Seahorses reports that, without vastly improved legal protection, seahorses may become extinct within 20-30 years. Unlike the […]
By Daniel Ball, solicitor Somewhere in the bleak and unforgiving Scottish Highlands, golden eagles are persecuted for so-called ‘sport’. Grouse shooting is the hunting of red grouse between August and December each year. Large areas of land were devoted to grouse shooting by the early 1880s, when driven shooting (using beaters to drive the grouse towards waiting guns) became fashionable. Because gamekeepers did not want their grouse stock affected, they controlled predators. The legal control of predators such as foxes, […]
By Rosie Paine, student at University of Winchester Deforestation, the cutting down of trees in a large area, or the destruction of trees by people, is one of the leading causes of climate change and species extinction. Within the UK, there is hope for an international agreement to reduce tropical deforestation by at least 50%, and to halt global forest cover loss by 2030. Such an agreement would help reduce deforestation and its resulting dangers to climate change, as clearing […]
Review by Erin Lanza In this book, media studies scholar and theorist Aph Ko presents a novel approach to considering animal rights, one that destabilises colonial logic and locates problematic racial hierarchies as central to our exploitation of nonhuman animals. Ko asserts that white supremacy uses the concept of animality to denigrate minority peoples, thereby committing conceptual (and then physical) violence against both nonwhite humans and nonhuman animals. Ko’s commitment to situating anti-racist and animal rights theory as necessarily compatible […]