Species justice and harm to animals - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 131

species to sites where they do not currently occur or have not been
known to occur in recent history. The introduction of 'alien' species was
not uncommon during the course of European settlement outside of
Europe, as the example of trout in Tasmania exemplifies (see Franklin,
2006). Today, however, this is happening in response to climate change,
and usually is directed at species in the wild. 'In the UK, two native
species of butterfly were recently translocated approximately 65 km
northward into areas identified by modelling as climatically suitable
for occupancy by the butterflies' (Sutherland et al, 2009).
The problem is that non-native species moving into new ecosystems
are already recognised as a major conservation problem (see SCBD,
2010). This is evidenced, for example, by the rapid expansion in the
numbers of Indo-Pacific lionfish along the east coast of the United
States and in the Caribbean to the detriment of native coral reef fish
(Sutherland et al, 2009). Assisted colonists could be viewed as invasive
and as constituting a potential danger to existing ecosystems and their
inhabitants. Classic cases where considerable damage has resulted
include the introduction of the cane toad into Australia. Its subsequent
spread has had colossal impacts on native species. With no or few natural
predators, it has proliferated and continues to take over more and more
territories previously held by other endemic species.
The status and value of animals, of particular species, and of individual
animals varies greatly therefore according to circumstance and larger
ecological patterns and trends. The moral and legal status of animals
(as reflected in law and popular folklore) is captured to some extent
through the application of a sociozoological scale that ranks animals
according to how well they 'fit in' to society (Arluke and Sanders, 1996:
169-70). At the top of the scale are humans, followed by companion
animals (such as dogs and cats), animals in service (such as guide
dogs and assistance dogs) and instrumental animals (such as cows and
laboratory mice). At the bottom of the scale are animals considered
pests and vermin such as rats. Animals perceived to be dangerous to
humans such as sharks and snakes occupy a lower rank than those that
serve humans and do so in a mainly safe manner such as horses and
chickens. Much of the work of animal rights activists is intended to
challenge such hierarchies of value and to affirm the intrinsic value
of animals, albeit in the light of disputes over where to draw the line
between human and nonhuman.
The struggle to come to grips with the place of animals (in both
the human and natural worlds) is also increasingly reflected in the
'value' or 'worth' attached to animals by government agencies, which
are likewise becoming ever more complicated and sophisticated. For