Animal Harm—Perspectives on Why People Harm and Kill Animals

Nurse, a green criminologist teaching out of Birmingham City U. in the UK, surveys what he terms "animal harm" and makes arguments about its nature and disturbing prevalence in human society. The book considers the ethical and value judgments people make about animals and the acceptability of harming them. Animal harm includes injuring and torturing, extreme neglect killing, poaching, illegal capture and trade. It is not a book about animal justice or personhood, though the issues crop up, since it is a criminological take on animal harm. He is most concerned with animal harm as an aspect of criminal behavior in the context of existing legal protections and prohibitions. He argues that the animal offender is a distinct type of criminal that is all too often, by law-enforcement and activists alike, mistakenly lumped into the same category. He considers mostly UK material, but it is otherwise international in scope. He explains the nature of animal harm in a green criminological framework, how to identify animal offenders, and surveys different types of animal harm in domestic and sport contexts. Later chapters turn to wildlife trade and public policy. He concludes by arguing how, short of an animal rights revolution, understanding animal harm in its linkage to other sorts of criminal behavior can permit greater control of it. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Angus Nurse is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Middlesex Univeristy's School of Law. He was formerly Visiting Lecturer in Criminal Investigation at Birmingham City University and Associate Lecturer (Social Sciences and Law) at The Open University. He has previously worked as Investigations Co-ordinator for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the RSPB's Legal & Data Protection Officer. He has also been employed as an Investigator for the Commission for Local Administration (the Local Government Ombudsman). His research interests are in the areas of wildlife and environmental crime and the law protecting animals and wildlife, judicial review, alternative dispute resolution, and corporate environmental responsibility. He has published widely on these and related areas.