The Alien Species in 20th-century Britain: Constructing a new vermin

Smout, T. C.

doi:10.1080/01426390306527

Cited by 40 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this context, attempts to exclude or eliminate aliens in order to protect native species implicate conservation within discourses of national identity, border definition and even xenophobia (Milton 2000;Smout 2003; for debate, Preston 2009& Warren 2007. In the British context, island status and early industrialisation have combined to create an infamously nostalgic attitude towards the landscape, and a keen sense of external threat.…”

Section: Alien Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the British context, a distinction between indigenous and introduced species has been perceived for centuries, but only during the final decades of the twentieth-century did this dichotomy become the primary means of categorising and valuing species. For example, at the beginning of the twentieth-century, plants and animals were classified as either vermin or non-vermin without reference to origin (Smout 2003); as a result, native red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris), which today hold talismanic status for the conservation movement, were indiscriminately persecuted along with non-native grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis).…”

Section: Alien Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

On Rome's ecological contribution to British flora and fauna: landscape, legacy and identity

Witcher¹

2013

Landscape History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Alien Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Alien Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Rome's ecological contribution to British flora and fauna: landscape, legacy and identity

Witcher¹

2013

Landscape History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Throughout the 20 th century, as different ways of valuing wildlife have emerged and 653 interest in wildlife conservation grown, the concept of 'vermin' has consistently been 654 challenged and the list of species to which the classification applies (legally, at least) 655 has reduced (Smout, 2003). Arguably, however, the categorisation of species as 656 'invasive' is replacing 'vermin' as a label that designates certain animals as 'out of 657 place' (Crowley, 2014;Milton, 2000), troublesome and, ultimately, killable.…”

Section: ) Is a Discursive Indication That This Deadly Classificamentioning

confidence: 99%

Killing squirrels: Exploring motivations and practices of lethal wildlife management

Crowley

Hinchliffe

McDonald

2018

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

4Wildlife management, pest control and conservation projects often involve killing 5 nonhuman animals. In the United Kingdom, introduced grey squirrels Sciurus 6 carolinensis are killed in large numbers to protect remnant populations of European 7 red squirrels Sciurus vulgaris. Grey squirrels are also killed outside of red squirrel 8 areas to protect broadleaved trees from squirrel damage, and as part of routine pest 9 control, opportunistically, and sometimes recreationally. In order to investigate the 10 ways in which this killing is conceived and practised in the UK, we conducted semi-11 structured interviews with practitioners and undertook participant observation of 12 squirrel management activities, including lethal control. Analysing these field data, 13we identified important variations in practitioners' approaches to killing squirrels, and 14 here we outline three 'modes of killing' -reparative/sacrificial, stewardship, and 15 categorical -which comprise different primary motivations, moral principles, ultimate 16 aims, and practical methods. We explore both productive alliances and possible 17 tensions between these modes, and propose that clear, explicit consideration of how 18 and why animals are both killed and 'made killable' should be a key component of 19 any wildlife management initiative that involves lethal control. There's more than one way to kill a squirrel. In the United Kingdom (UK), people 24 bring about the deaths of thousands of grey squirrels Sciurus carolinensis every 25 year: in houses, gardens, barns and woodlands; on public and private land; and with 26 guns, traps, weighted priests, and water. Killing is an occasional pot-shot from the 27 window, or a full-time occupation; it is distressingly difficult and/or a matter of routine. 28 29The killing of nonhuman animals (hereafter 'animals') is ubiquitous in human 30 societies (The Animal Studies Group, 2006), and "fundamental to the creation of the 31 social order between sets of creatures" (Marvin, 2006, p20). Nevertheless, despite 32 an abundance of theoretical and philosophical discussions of the ethics of killing, 33 comparatively little empirical social scientific research has examined how nonhuman 34 killing is practised and performed. Exceptions include work in the 'domestic killing' 35 spaces of slaughterhouses, research laboratories and animal shelters, where people 36 who routinely kill animals face a range of psychological and emotional challenges 37 (Dillard, 2008;King, 2016), and anthropological research investigating hunting 38 practices amongst 'Western' and indigenous peoples, which indicates that 'wild 39 killing' can be experienced as positive and/or rewarding (Cartmill, 1993; Ingold, 40 2000;Knight, 2012;Marvin, 2010;Watson and Huntington, 2008). More recently, 41 there has been increasing academic interest in how killing and death "circulate 42 alongside care and life" (Ginn et al., 2014, p113), addressing the 'violent-care' of 43 killing in conservation (Clark, 2015;van Dooren, 2015), rescue shelter...

show abstract

“…Yet this focus on stability is recent: when the first acclimatization societies were founded in France and Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century, moving species around the globe had fundamentally positive connotations. Scientists embraced the noble aims of improving the supposedly defective colonial landscapes and rendering the metropolis exotic and cosmopolitan (Osborne 2000;Smout 2003). Today, however, managing and controlling the environment involves not the addition but the subtraction of selected species.…”

Section: Constituting a Global Biodiversity Polity Through Calculativmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing Mobile Species in a Climate-Changed World

Fall¹

2013

Governing the Climate

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Alien Species in 20th-century Britain: Constructing a new vermin

Cited by 40 publications

References 2 publications

On Rome's ecological contribution to British flora and fauna: landscape, legacy and identity

On Rome's ecological contribution to British flora and fauna: landscape, legacy and identity

Killing squirrels: Exploring motivations and practices of lethal wildlife management

Governing Mobile Species in a Climate-Changed World

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About