Cities, Nature, Justice: a zoologist's perspective

Lunney, Daniel

doi:10.5130/tfc.v5i1.1553

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…HR arrived in Australia from America as a fully-fledged ecologist, but he is now part of the natural landscape of Sydney, catches and eats the local fish from the Hawkesbury estuary and is as alert as any native Sydneysider to the changes in the fauna of our city. DL is a long-term local (Lunney 2010).…”

Section: What Can You Do As An Individual?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the natural history of Sydney so camouflaged that it will not survive?

Lunney

Hutchings

Hochuli

et al. 2010

The Natural History of Sydney

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Our answer, to the question: Is the natural history of Sydney so camouflaged that it will not survive? is "yes". Harry Recher, an active participant in the plenary session, took the view that as the ecosystems around us decline, there will be even less native fauna in the city. There exists a strong case for knowing what is native, and not just pushing on with restoration, or setting aside green spaces without knowing what is there, and what will occupy the new habitats. That case is the subject of this paper. Knowing the natural history of Sydney is one element of living in a civilised society, which includes caring about the past, knowing your local plants and animals, and managing for future generations. All the papers in this book are linked thematically around the idea that Sydney has its own rich natural history that is worthy of sustained study and conservation. We comment on the way that historians have looked at Sydney, and where native animals have fitted into the history of Australia, and Sydney in particular. In our view, that subject is only now taking hold, but it will be one that will yield many new insights, and in turn it will merge with ecological thinking and contribute to the new disciple of ecological history. Paul Adam, in his paper, shows the merit of reference back to Britain for our understanding of how and why the colony took the course it did with respect to natural history. He is dismayed that natural history no longer has any prominence, yet it is the foundation stone upon which so many of the specialist disciplines rest. More importantly, it is a guiding light for any major conservation effort. We present one glimpse of the natural history of Sydney, invite others to enjoy its diversity, to support its conservation, and then integrate those views into your city life.

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Section: What Can You Do As An Individual?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the natural history of Sydney so camouflaged that it will not survive?

Lunney

Hutchings

Hochuli

et al. 2010

The Natural History of Sydney

Self Cite

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“…While Australian ecologists seek to raise the profile of recombinant urban environments as important sites for the protection of species (e.g. Lunney & Burgin 2004, Lunney 2010, their primary concerns lie with either with those species displaced or disadvantaged by urbanisation, or those that take refuge in the city in the face of significant environmental pressures outside. Species and populations that become more dominant in urban settings become outliers in an Australian urban conservation politics concerned with "dealing with exotic species, pests and vermin on the one hand, and relic native animal populations on the other" (Lunney 2010, p.26 …”

Section: Declaration By Authormentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild urban companions: living with everyday native animals in Brisbane

Paxton¹

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In the subtropical city of Brisbane, encounters with many species of native wildlife are a daily occurrence. For these animals, the human-altered conditions of the city do not pose an insurmountable challenge, but a plethora of ecological opportunities. As they adapt to and do well in association with humans and cities -a phenomenon known by ecologists as synurbisation -they become Brisbane's everyday wildlife, common and taken-for-granted amongst the broader urban crowd. Human responses to this wildlife are often inconsistent and ambiguous. In an era being heralded as the Anthropocene, when we must address the overwhelmingly negative outcomes that human activity has had on most animal species, our obligations to these animals demand more careful reflection. In this thesis, I aim to take Brisbane's synurbic wildlife seriously by exploring how they are companion species and significant others in the composition of collective worlds.In this thesis, I present a series of empirical accounts that challenge anthropocentric assumptions about wildlife that thrives in relation to cities and urbanisation. I illustrate that synurbisation cannot be understood as wildlife simply hitching a wagon to human civilisation, but as an ontologically enactive, political process in which wildlife enters, holds its shape and exerts influence in urban assemblages. As humans and everyday wildlife attune to each other in these assemblages, they become urban together, weaving chains of knowledge and power in an anthropo-zoo-genetic choreography of affect and response. This choreography enacts the city in multiple and specific ways, drawing together ecological, historical and spatial trajectories that extend far beyond urban boundaries. In my first account, I interrogate the idea that Eastern water dragons flourish inBrisbane as a result of learning to tolerate the presence of humans. Taking a more generous approach to the processes at play in human-water dragon encounters, Idemonstrate that this tale of synurbisation is not only about lost fear, but expanded authority and courteous articulation as water dragons influence humans with displays of bravado. By acquiescing to these displays, humans affirm the water dragon's urban dominance and are taught how to live politely with them. Knowledge, trust and 3 confidence circulates as humans and dragons become urban together, circulations that can be woven in to domestic, public and even scientific experiments with them.The second account concentrates on the trickier relationships formed as flying foxes become urban. Aerial, nocturnal and nomadic, urban flying foxes are masters at achieving intangibility with humans as they forage Brisbane's eclectic cultivated forest, weaving loose chains of knowledge in a choreography that often leaves humans feeling somehow lacking. However, flying foxes become far more knowable when they are injured navigating the urban forest. Here, far closer relationships -and tighter chains of trust -form between the animals and flying fox rescuers as humans engag...

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Can a critical reading of Zoopolis by Donaldson and Kymlicka lead to advocating dialogue between animal rights theorists and zoologists?

Lunney¹

2019

Pac. Conserv. Biol.

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This essay is a zoologist’s response to Zoopolis. A political theory of animal rights by Donaldson and Kymlicka (2011). What drew me to look at their new approach was that geography played a part in conceptualising animal communities and, in particular, the specific focus on wild animals and urban wildlife. To oversimplify, Donaldson and Kymlicka say, much of the debate operates within one of three basic moral frameworks: a welfarist, an ecological and a basic rights approach, but none has proved capable of fundamental change. That change will only be possible, they consider, if we can develop a new moral framework that connects the treatment of animals more directly to the fundamental principles of liberal–democratic justice and human rights. A major point of agreement between zoologists and Donaldson’s and Kymlicka’s views is that animals deserve more than being over-ridden at every encounter with human interests. A major stalling point in advocating a dialogue between animal rights theorists and zoologists is where Donaldson and Kymlicka accept the animal rights position at the outset, rather than letting their thesis play out to see what their position might be for each geographic zone and for each species. Also, it is clear that Donaldson’s and Kymlicka’s starting point is the traditional animal rights agenda, which rules out animal research as morally illegitimate. The conservation of Australia’s fauna could not survive in that regime. Consequently, I cannot advocate dialogue between animal rights theorists and zoologists from a critical reading of Zoopolis.

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Cities, Nature, Justice: a zoologist's perspective

Cited by 4 publications

References 17 publications

Is the natural history of Sydney so camouflaged that it will not survive?

Is the natural history of Sydney so camouflaged that it will not survive?

Wild urban companions: living with everyday native animals in Brisbane

Can a critical reading of Zoopolis by Donaldson and Kymlicka lead to advocating dialogue between animal rights theorists and zoologists?

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