Angus Nurse, Animal Harm: Perspectives on Why People Harm and Kill Animals
| Date | 01 December 2014 |
| Author | Edyta Drzazga |
| Published date | 01 December 2014 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1462474514530071 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Angus Nurse, Animal Harm: Perspectives on Why People Harm and Kill Animals, Ashgate: Farnham
and Burlington, 2013; xv + 289 pp.: £65.00
In his book, Animal Harm: Perspectives on Why People Harm and Kill Animals,
Angus Nurse asks why people harm animals in direct violation of the law. To
answer this question, the author takes a broad view and does not restrict the
study to prohibited acts. The author takes into account the entire spectrum of
conditions associated with the animal harm phenomenon, what constitutes an
undoubted value of the position. Such broad optics are consistently applied
throughout the nine chapters.
The arrangement itself is unusually readable; after every chapter is a short sum-
mary. In the second chapter, following the extensive introduction, the author
reviews illegal activity related to animal harm. He explains what constitutes unlaw-
ful animal abuse (cruelty) and wildlife crime, and at the same time makes the
distinction between morally unacceptable and legally permissible behaviors. In
the next chapter, the author proposes the interesting typology of animal
offenders, against the widespread view about the uniform profile of the person
who harms animals. He distinguishes: traditional offenders; economic offenders;
masculinity offending; hobby criminals; and stress offenders. In the third chapter a
model is developed that shows the different types of offenders, discussing five dif-
ferent types and the motivations of each. This model is based on research ana-
lysis of the literature, the views of NGOs and activists and extensive assessment
of case and court records. In the fourth chapter, Nurse undertakes a still neglected
subject of study: the problem of animal harm and domestic animals. In the
fifth chapter, ‘Animal harm and traditional field sports’, the author distinguishes
between the traditional field sports of hunting, shooting, fishing as one class,
and the more commercial sport and trophy hunting activities. In the sixth
chapter, Nurse discusses relations of animal harm with culture and self-expression.
In the seventh, sport and trophy hunting are covered, and in the eighth, trade in
wildlife and derivatives. The last chapter is dedicated to animal harm and public
policy.
The author’s holistic approach to animal harm depends on a wide spectrum
of perspectives on the phenomenon such as etiology, phenomenology, victim-
ology, social reaction and the social perception of the phenomenon. This com-
plexity shows not only in the differentiation of illegal activity constituting
animal harm, the pluralities of perpetrators, their motives of committing
animal harm and their rationalization, but also includes the sphere of
victimization.
Nurse perceives not only the animals to be the victims of animal harm, but the
entire society, paying attention to important social results of animal harm.
The social consent to the aggression directed at animals contributes to establishing
the global culture of aggression.
Animal harm is complex and includes many different behaviors and motivations
hidden in it, so it should resist simplification. However, the public politics treats all
perpetrators as if they were rational individuals, mainly motivated by cruelty or
Book reviews 623
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