1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910453992303321

Autore

Beirne Piers

Titolo

Confronting animal abuse [[electronic resource] ] : law, criminology, and human-animal relationships / / Piers Beirne

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lanham, Md., : Rowman & Littlefield, c2009

ISBN

1-282-49767-7

9786612497674

0-7425-9974-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiii, 235 p. ) : ill., map

Disciplina

344.04/9

Soggetti

Animal welfare - Law and legislation

Animal welfare - Law and legislation - History

Animal welfare - Psychological aspects

Bestiality (Law)

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-226) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Against cruelty? understanding the Act Against Plowing by the Tayle (Ireland, 1635) -- The prosecution of animal cruelty in Puritan Massachusetts, 1636-1683 -- Towards a sociology of animal sexual assault -- Horse maiming and the sport of kings -- Is there a progression from animal abuse to interhuman violence?

Sommario/riassunto

Confronting Animal Abuse presents a powerful examination of the human-animal relationship and the laws designed to protect it. Piers Beirne, a leading scholar in the growing field of green criminology, explores the heated topic of animal abuse in agriculture, science, and sport, as well as what is known, if anything, about the potential for animal assault to lead to inter-human violence. He convincingly shows how from its roots in the Irish plow-fields of 1635 through today, animal-rights legislation has been primarily shaped by human interest and why we must reconsider the terms of human-animal relationships. Beirne argues that if violations of animals' rights are to be taken seriously, then scholars and activists should examine why some harms to animals are defined as criminal, others as abusive but not criminal



and still others as neither criminal nor abusive. Confronting Animal Abuse points to the need for a more inclusive concept of harms to animals, without which the meaning of animal abuse will be overwhelmingly confined to those harms that are regarded as socially unacceptable, one-on-one cases of animal cruelty. Certainly, those cases demand attention. But so, too, do those other and far more numerous institutionalized harms to animals, where abuse is routine, invisible, ubiquitous and often defined as socially acceptable. In this pioneering, pro-animal book Beirne identifies flaws in our traditional understanding of human-animal relationships, and proposes a compelling new approach.