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Book review: Grant Pink and Rob White (eds), Environmental Crime and Collaborative State Intervention

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Janssen, and animals in war, by Ryan Hediger, are two such examples. Conservation, taken up by Krithika Srinivasan and Rajesh Kasturirangan, is another site of formalized, legitimized violence against animals… Click to show full abstract

Janssen, and animals in war, by Ryan Hediger, are two such examples. Conservation, taken up by Krithika Srinivasan and Rajesh Kasturirangan, is another site of formalized, legitimized violence against animals that is included in this section. Their piece discusses violence condoned through conservationist efforts geared toward animals defined as “invasive alien species”—in contrast to, and for the welfare of, “native species”. Ragnhild Sollund’s chapter points us to yet another location and cluster of legal and illegal harms: the plight, particularly theriocide, of trafficked animals seized by officials. In Part 7, Mary Gupta, Lisa Lunghofer and Kenneth Shapiro concentrate on preventing further violence against animals by those known to be animal abuse offenders. In their chapter, they discuss existing interventions with adults and children, matters central to developing more effective interventions and suggestions for bridging the prevention/ intervention divide. In the introduction of the Handbook, a paradox—central to the book and animal abuse studies—is presented, and correspondingly, offers a means to a conclusion here: “[u]nderlying the enhanced concern and compassion for animals is a long tradition of deliberate abuse” (p. 3). Where there is abuse, there is also compassion. In other words, while it is horrifying that this book exists, it is reassuring that it does. However hard it is to think about the horrors that animals face at the expense of human behavior, animal abuse is, to borrow from LeviStrauss’s adage, “good to think with”. Only then can it be rendered unthinkable. While the volume includes countless harms, there are, unfortunately, other forms of harm, sites of abuse and species that suffer cruelty. If only one book could cover them all. Some omissions are practical, due to “limitation of space or because there is little or no current research on them. Prominent among these are the abuse of animals used in religious practices and in certain forms of entertainment, such as circuses and movies” (p. 7). One of the Handbook’s strengths is that it provides a clear framework for those interested in moving animal abuse studies forward, including researchers with topics not explicitly discussed in the volume. The perspective and empirical foundation that this Handbook offers can be used to inform any number of concerns pertaining to the wellbeing of the animals themselves.

Keywords: intervention; animal abuse; book; book review; review grant; abuse

Journal Title: Theoretical Criminology
Year Published: 2018

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