Kurtis Boyer

When the Butcher Calls the Hunter Foul, and the Muddied Politics which Follow: Speciesism and the EU Opposition to the Wolf Hunt

Abstract Rarely does the death of animals cause conflict between governments. However, the killing of some animals, such as seals, wolves, and other exotic wildlife, can cause heated conflict over whether the act of killing is itself justifiable. This paper provides an overview of a recent disagreement along these lines: between the EU and Sweden over the management of wolves. It juxtaposes the recent politicalization of the wolf hunt with an overview of two very different moral frameworks that humans use to conceive of the value of animals. This paper argues that these two moral frameworks share in employing a human-centrism which consequently restricts how the issue of justice can be introduced into policy discussions regarding the treatment of animals. However, the primary assertion made here is that while these two frameworks are constituted by speciesism, they represent two different positions which as is illustrated by the debate surrounding the justifiability of the wolf hunt, provide very different points to which questions of justice are truncated or introduced. Therefore, the assertion made in this paper is that the conflict between the EU and Sweden, over the justifiability of the wolf hunt stems from competing speciesist positions.

The Limits of Species Advocacy

Boyer offers an innovative analysis of the relationship between species protection and the different ways we are able to become emotionally responsive and morally committed to animals in politics. Using the politicalization of polar bear advocacy as an illustration, this chapter draws attention to how species advocacy comes to be transposed onto politics through habitat protection or other intermediary political goals not exclusive to species protection. The chapter reveals species advocacy as existing through single, sometimes competing incarnations of advocacy. By referring to literature that discusses anthropocentrism, altruism, and the representation of animals, Boyer is able to uncover the psycho-social conditions that underlie and guide much of todays popularized species advocacy -- ultimately leading us to ask the troubling question of whether it is our attachment towards species and the manner in which it becomes articulated in politics, which poses the greatest threat to species protection. (Less)