This open access book is the biography of one of Britain’s foremost animal welfare campaigners and of the world of activism, science, and politics she inhabited. In 1964, Ruth Harrison’s bestseller Animal Machines triggered a gear change in modern animal protection by popularising the term ‘factory farming’ alongside a new way of thinking about animal welfare. Here, historian Claas Kirchhelle explores Harrison’s avant-garde upbringing, Quakerism, and how animal welfare debates were linked to concerns about the wider ethical and environmental trajectories of post-war Britain. Breaking the myth of Harrison as a one-hit wonder, Kirchhelle reconstructs Harrison’s 46 years of campaigning and the rapid transformation of welfare politics and science during this time. Exacerbated by Harrison’s own actions, the decades after 1964 saw a polarisation of animal politics, a professionalisation of British activism, and the rise of a new animal welfare science. Harrison’s belief in incremental reform allowed her to form ties to leading scientists but alienated her from more radical campaigners. Many of her 1964 demands gradually became part of mainstream politics. However, farm animal welfare’s increasing marketisation has also led to a relative divorce from the wider agenda of social improvement that Harrison once bore witness to. This is the first book to cast light on the interlinked histories of British farm animal welfare activism, science, and legislation. Its unique scope allows it to go beyond existing accounts of modern British animal welfare and will be of interest to those interested in animal welfare, environmentalism, and the behavioural sciences.

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While providing a basis for all ecosystems, bugs such as insects and arachnids also destroy crops and indirectly kill humans and other animals by the millions. This book illuminates the many ways in which human lives affect and are affected by bugs as part of a wider network of species. 14 chapters reveal how knowledge, ideas, and emotions related to bugs are historically and culturally formed. With many bug populations in free fall, how can humans and bugs coexist? This book examines this question and offers a new ethics for this coexistence. Contributors are Michaela Fenske, Minna Santaoja, Concepción Cortés Zulueta, Heidi Mikkola, Laura Hollsten, Sophie FitzMaurice, Otto Latva, Marianne Mäkelin, Taina Syrjämaa, Suvi Rytty, Sanna Lillbroända-Annala, Emily Webster, Karine Aasgaard Jansen, Heta Lähdesmäki, and Tuomas Räsänen.

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This Open Access volume explains how major nuclear and radiological emergencies (NREs) can have implications at local, national and international level. The response to NREs requires a competent decision-making structure, clear communication and effective information exchange. National veterinary services have the responsibility to plan, design and manage animal production system in their countries. These activities cover animal health, animal movement control, production control and improvement, and control of the products of animal origin before their placement on the market. Release of radionuclides after NREs can cause substantial contamination in the animal production systems. Critical responsibility of veterinary authorities is therefore to prevent such contamination, establish early response mechanisms to mitigate the consequences and prevent placement of contaminated products of animal origin on the market for human consumption. This work summarizes the critical technical points for effective management of NREs for national veterinary services.

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