The commoditization of non-human animals into property has permitted people to commit acts of abuse against non-human animals in both legal and illegal forms. The largest amount of non-human animal violence and abuse occurs behind closed doors within institutionally owned multi-billion dollar food industry, and science sector corporations. The mass scale of violence and poor treatment to non-human animals must be investigated to discover its impact on humans in society. To begin the research, it is essential to include the practices and current views on non-human animals in our society to help portray the reason behind a human violent nature. We examine these practices and views by criticizing the federal law. This research will then further …show more content…
These actors are the main contributors to the influence of our environment, us as humans, and non-human animals. Society has commoditized non-human animals for mass production to satisfy the political structure of the state, economic needs of corporations, and the greed of individual pleasure. Society has been speciesist because we have prejudice or biased attitudes favoring our own species over others (Cazaux, 1999); consequently, society is majorly anthropocentric in the quest for human development and economic growth. A species justice perspective would argue that animals have rights and shouldn’t be instrumentally used for humans. Green criminologists would be interested in the subject using a non-speciesist perspective for the reconsideration of attitudes and practices of humans when dealing with animals. Advancements to begin the reconsideration process would include critiquing the current laws that put non-human animals to a disadvantage and greater risk of being victimized. The current laws cause many non-human animals to suffer due to the poor treatment within marketplace and lack of regulation by the state. The poor regulation for non-human animals in Canada is partly due to the meager definition of “Victim” in the Criminal code of Canada, along with the charges in the section of ‘Cruelty to Animals’. Victims as defined in the criminal code (S. 2) can only …show more content…
In contrast, due to non-human animals being labeled as property, they are at a constant risk of harm and are essentially the most vulnerable group to be victimized by humans. It is interesting to note that within the current federal laws, animals are still not distinguished as potential victims, even though non-human animals first started largely being viewed by society as victims a little more than one-hundred years ago (Fitzgerald, 2010). William Hogarth