Species justice and harm to animals - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 117

major impact on the habitats of animals such as pumas, jaguars, Andean
cats and tapirs, which cannot live outside this particular ecosystem
(Robin, 2010: 271). Similar events are happening in places such as
Indonesia, where deforestation is putting pressure on the Sumatran tiger
and the orangutan (Boekhout van Solinge, 2008b). Property rights, in
this instance, refer to the priority given over to land tenure and use
over and above consideration to the welfare of its animal inhabitants.
Law and criminology have not only been oriented toward illegal
animal trade issues and matters of protecting property. Historically, as
well, laws have been enacted to forbid cruel and improper treatment
of certain animals, although criminologists have seldom considered
animal suffering as the explicit focus of study. Moreover, in practice,
law enforcement was at best haphazard and the 'crime' did not rate
highly in public consciousness or as a serious concern.
However, phenomenon such as arranging dog fights for entertainment
and betting sport have in recent years drawn much public condemnation
in places such as the United States. The rise of both anti-cruelty
movements (such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals) and animal rights movements (such as People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals) has been instrumental in raising awareness of
animal abuse issues, and promoting alternative ways of thinking about
such abuse.
Regulations and laws pertaining to animals tend to approach the
issues from the point of view of protecting the integrity of specific
animals from abuse (that is, individual animal welfare), protecting the
integrity of markets involving animal products (for example, by fixing
access and limits to fish catches), protecting human health and wellbeing
from inappropriate animal products (for example, slaughterhouse
production rules), and protecting endangered species (that is, collective
existence of certain animals).
Within criminology, there are two main strands of concerted research
on animals. One deals with matters of illegal trade, and subjects such
as illegal fishing, abalone poaching, illegal trade in endangered species,
elephant poaching and threats to the tiger population (see for example,
White, 2008a; Beirne and South, 2007; White, 2009, R.; Lemieux and
Clark, 2009; Pires and Moreto, 2011). The other area makes the link
between animal abuse and interpersonal violence, including the co-
occurrence of child abuse, family violence and cruelty to animals (see
for example, Beirne, 2004, 2009; Acione, 2001, 2010; Flynn, 2011).
More broadly, writers have also identified a series of potential topics
that deserve further attention, such as the prosecution and execution of
animals, bestiality as a form of sexual assault, the use of animals such as