Increasing Legal Rights for Zoo Animals - by Jesse Donahue (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book examines how zoo animals can benefit from a global legal revolution in which animals are gaining personhood and citizenship rights. It moves the scholarship about zoos beyond a general discussion of ethics to a concrete set of suggestions on how to increase legal rights for zoo animals.

Book Synopsis

This book examines how zoo animals can benefit from a global legal revolution in which animals are gaining personhood and citizenship rights. It moves the scholarship about zoos beyond a general discussion of ethics to a concrete set of suggestions on how to increase legal rights for zoo animals.

Review Quotes

Earth is now a managed sanctuary. Wilderness is a relative status and is much diminished. Wildlife, wherever it survives, is necessary to our quality of life and yet it is poorly protected. It is time that the one dominant species gets serious about protecting the other species. Zoo and aquarium animals are a significant part of bringing about these protections. These institutions need to be supported and improved, not ignored and closed. The essays in this book are timely and important contributions to our efforts to recognize the value of zoo and aquarium animals in the struggle to finally, and effectively, conserve our wildlife. They are essential reading for anyone interested in accomplishing these conservation efforts.

Justice on the Ark asks the difficult questions that are necessary as long as there are zoos and nonhuman animals in them. Professor Donahue's argument that wild zoo animals ought to be recognized as co-citizens, given the same rights as companion animals, and thought about as "wild public companion animals" is an important step forward in what is often an intractable debate between zoo advocates and opponents. This argument and others offered in the book make it an extremely valuable collection, a must-read for those involved in the zoo world and those who are critical of zoos and aquariums.

In the depths of the Anthropocene, we have a responsibility to take a critical look at the institutions that surround us, assessing their purpose, their sustainability, and their ethical integrity. This timely work does just that by peering into the zoological park, a multi-billion-dollar industry built around and upon animal inhabitants, "ambassadors," and "co-citizens." Increasing Legal Rights for Zoo Animals raises thought-provoking questions about the lives animals and the future of zoos in the twenty-first century. More important, its authors present a range of approaches to making the zoo a better place. Whether zoogoer or zoo critic, this collection is a must-read.

About the Author

Jesse Donahue is professor of political science at Saginaw Valley State University.