Inter-Species Violence: Humans and the Harming of Animals

This chapter considers violence in the relationship between human and nonhuman animals as a central concern. The main question here is interspecies violence and its ramifications. It explores the ways in which violence perpetrated by humans against nonhuman animals not only harms animals but simultaneously negatively affects humans. Australian experience mirrors this. The killing and harming of nonhuman animals is extensive and in many cases it is deemed to be 'legitimate' in regards to human traditions and laws. However, it is also the case that the violence of humans in the context of inter-species violence begets violence and other harmful conduct and attitudes within the human community. How and why this is the case is of major significance to any consideration of violence more generally.