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was promptly challenged in her resolutely anthropocentric, utilitarian stand by
several other participants who articulated biocentric attitudes. These attitudes
emphasised the need for human—animal coexistence on the basis of fairness to
animals and their prior claims to territory. For example, in discussing what to do
about predators in the suburbs, several participants argued that 'people are going
more and more up into the mountains and they're invading these animals' territory…
they've been there for all these years', and the animals are simply 'invading us back…
we should stop building. Start sharing!' In response to Alice's suggested hunt and
assertion that humans come first, Vivian, Georgia and Irene responded with calls for
fairness and coexistence:
VIVIAN: I don't think we can have that kind of control.
GEORGIA: I don't think we should. That's not even fair.
IRENE:
Wasn't they here before us? The animals? …So, you know, actually
they were here first. God made them first, all right.
ALICE:
No, man is just a little lower than God. Man is just a little lower than
the angels!
IRENE:
We don't have, God put them animals there. We don't have no right
just to take ' em out, because/
ALICE:
Man is the ruler of all things/
IRENE:
Well, this world is big enough for everybody to share/
VIVIAN:
If they would only start sharing.
IRENE:
We don't have any right to take out these animals because they were here
before we were. Period. They have their life too.
Even though Irene privileged the lives of her own children over those of animals, if
it came to a choice, she nevertheless insisted that the animals were only doing what
they needed to do to survive—echoing themes of survival in a harsh environment
but also situating animals as sentient beings with natural behaviours and needs:
I'm not gonna lie. Some, one of the animals attack my children I'm gonna try
my best to kill that animal, you know? …that's because he's harming mine …
but I'm not just gonna go looking [to kill the animal]…. He came down
there for a reason. He was harmless, probably, and like I said, he was
probably, they was in his territory, you know, where he probably hunt for
food…
Several women, across all age groups, also articulated biocentric animal rights
attitudes that promoted human responsibility to help wild animals in distress,
threatened by starvation or other harm, even when this resulted from a natural
phenomenon such as El Niño (as opposed to human-induced dangers). The absence
of comment here from Susan was surprising, since her earlier comments about the
slaughter of animals and the consumption of dogs would seem to place her directly
in the animal rights field. Less surprising perhaps was the absence of Alice, whose
utilitarian approach to animals was detailed above. Only Vivian voiced a fatalistic
