HX – Elan Reflection

In her book Saving animals: multispecies ecologies of rescue and care, Elan draws a very empathetic and insightful picture of the conditions of life under which animals in the US live, their current status and the way they are represented. I appreciated the nuanced way in which she presents animals status as being inherently connected to a vast array of cultural and socio-economic practices ranging from the food industry to the entertainment industry to companionship. She problematizes each case around the issue of seeing animals as property and how even the most benevolent pet owners or even the very sanctuaries which seek to reverse that logic and treat animals as right-bearing subjects still follow that logic. On page 18 she writes “It is precisely this property status that makes it possible for sanctuaries to hold them in captivity and care for them in the first place.” By outlining the limits of sanctuaries which are still presented as the most ethical option for animal care, Elan questions the very nature of human relationship to animals and pushes towards a different kind of awareness.

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