Wildlife as Food
Wildlife as Food
This chapter further explores the theme of wildlife as human property and exploitable natural resource with an examination of the sale and exploitation of wildlife for food. Wildlife as food is a complicated issue as not only does it include luxury ‘exotic’ foods like caviar, whale, and bear paws, but also includes common species such as deer, rabbits, and snakes. Adding to the complexity is that some species, like caviar, were at one time common, but because of over-exploitation and unsustainable consumption have become a luxury. Alternatively, once common non-human animals like the pangolin have been exploited to dangerous levels due to their status as a luxury food (and medicine). The chapter gives specific examples where wildlife is consumed as food to explore the various motivations of consumption. There is an in-depth discussion of caviar, where there is evidence of organised crime orchestrating this complicated global black market. We end this chapter by discussing the speciesism that is inherent in our food choices.
Keywords: Consumption, Speciesism, Wildlife crime, Caviar, Bird crime
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