Species justice and harm to animals - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 101

FOUR
Species justice and harm
to animals
introduction
The matter of animal rights and animal welfare is encapsulated in that
work concerned with species justice (Benton, 1998; Beirne, 2007). In
specific terms, concepts such as speciesism may be invoked. This refers
to the practice of discriminating against nonhuman animals because
they are perceived as inferior to the human species in much the same
way that sexism and racism involve prejudice and discrimination
against women and people of different colour to the discriminator
(Munro, 2004). Animal rights supporters argue that there are two kinds
of animals - human and nonhuman - and that both have rights and
interests as sentient beings; they believe, however, that the dominant
ideology of speciesism enables humans to exploit nonhuman animals
as commodities to be eaten, displayed, hunted and dissected for human
benefit.
From the point of view of species justice the kinds of questions that
need to be asked include which species are threatened and why. In
concrete terms, we need to know why some species are favoured by
human communities and some are non-valued. Animals are categorised
and utilised by humans in many different ways that range from factory
farming through to laboratory animals. Depending upon human use,
animal welfare (and rights) is protected differentially depending upon
species and circumstance. Animal protection laws operate strongly
when it comes to companion animals, for instance, but are much less
restrictive in the case of pigs grown for eventual slaughter. Animal
rights advocates call for reforms such as the banning of cage production
of chickens and the live export trade of sheep, and an end to whale
hunting. Groups such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals (RSPCA), Sea Shepherd, Animal Liberation, the World
Wide Fund for Nature (formerly the World Wildlife Fund), American
Animal Legal Defense Fund, Animals Australia, Voiceless, People and
Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and People for the Ethical Treatment