Trash animals : how we live with nature's filthy, feral, invasive, and unwanted species
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Bibliographic Information
Trash animals : how we live with nature's filthy, feral, invasive, and unwanted species
University of Minnesota Press, c2013
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Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Why are some species admired or beloved while others are despised? An eagle or hawk circling overhead inspires awe while urban pigeons shuffling underfoot are kicked away in revulsion. Fly fishermen consider carp an unwelcome trash fish, even though the trout they hope to catch are often equally non-native. Wolves and coyotes are feared and hunted in numbers wildly disproportionate to the dangers they pose to humans and livestock.
In Trash Animals, a diverse group of environmental writers explores the natural history of wildlife species deemed filthy, unwanted, invasive, or worthless, highlighting the vexed relationship humans have with such creatures. Each essay focuses on a so-called trash species-gulls, coyotes, carp, cockroaches, magpies, prairie dogs, and lubber grasshoppers, among others-examining the biology and behavior of each in contrast to the assumptions widely held about them. Identifying such animals as trash tells us nothing about problematic wildlife but rather reveals more about human expectations of, and frustrations with, the natural world.
By establishing the unique place that maligned species occupy in the contemporary landscape and in our imagination, the contributors challenge us to look closely at these animals, to reimagine our ethics of engagement with such wildlife, and to question the violence with which we treat them. Perhaps our attitudes reveal more about humans than they do about the animals.
Contributors: Bruce Barcott; Charles Bergman, Pacific Lutheran U; James E. Bishop, Young Harris College; Andrew D. Blechman; Michael P. Branch, U of Nevada, Reno; Lisa Couturier; Carolyn Kraus, U of Michigan-Dearborn; Jeffrey A. Lockwood, U of Wyoming; Kyhl Lyndgaard, Marlboro College; Charles Mitchell, Elmira College; Kathleen D. Moore, Oregon State U; Catherine Puckett; Bernard Quetchenbach, Montana State U, Billings; Christina Robertson, U of Nevada, Reno; Gavan P. L. Watson, U of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Table of Contents
- Contents Foreword Randy Malamud Acknowledgments Introduction Kelsi Nagy and Phillip David Johnson II I. The Symbolic Trash Animal 1. See Gull: Cultural Blind Spots and the Disappearance of the Ring-billed Gull in Toronto Gavan P. L. Watson 2. Hunger Makes the Wolf Charles Bergman 3. Beauty and the Beast Catherine Puckett 4. Managing Apocalypse: A Cultural History of the Mormon Cricket Christina Robertson II. The Native Trash Animal 5. One Nation under Coyote, Divisible Lisa Couturier 6. Prairie Dog and Prejudice Kelsi Nagy 7. Nothing Says Trash like Packrats: Nature Boy Meets Bushy Tail Michael P. Branch III. The Invasive Trash Animal 8. Canadas: From Conservation Success to Flying Carp Bernard Quetchenbach 9. The Bard's Bird
- or, The Slings and Arrows of Avicultural Hegemony: A Tragicomedy in Five Acts Charles Mitchell 10. Fly-Fishing for Carp As a Deeper Aesthetics Phillip David Johnson II IV. The Urban Trash Animal 11. Metamorphosis in Detroit Carolyn Kraus 12. Kach'i: Garbage Birds in a Hybrid Landscape James E. Bishop 13. Flying Rats Andrew D. Blechman V. Moving beyond Trash 14. Kill the Cat That Kills the Bird? Bruce Barcott 15. An Unlimited Take of Ugly: The Bullhead Catfish Kyhl Lyndgaard 16. A Six-legged Guru: Fear and Loathing in Nature Jeffrey A. Lockwood 17. The Parables of the Rats and Mice Kathleen Dean Moore Publication History Contributors Index
by "Nielsen BookData"
