The very mention of Afghanistan conjures images of war, international power politics, the opium trade, and widespread corruption. Yet the untold story of Afghanistan's seemingly endless misfortune is the disruptive impact that prolonged conflict has had on ordinary rural Afghans, their culture, and the timeless relationship they share with their land and animals. In rural Afghanistan, when animals die, livelihoods are lost, families and communities suffer, and people may perish. That Sheep May Safely Graze details a determined effort, in the midst of war, to bring essential veterinary services to an agrarian society that depends day in and day out on the well-being and productivity of its animals, but which, because of decades of war and the disintegration of civil society, had no reliable access to even the most basic animal health care. The book describes how, in the face of many obstacles, a dedicated group of Afghan and expatriate veterinarians working for a small non governmental organization (NGO) in Kabul was able to create a national network of over 400 veterinary field units staffed by over 600 veterinary para professionals. These paravets were selected by their own communities and then trained and outfitted by the NGO so that nearly every district in the country that needed basic veterinary services now has reliable access to such services. Most notably, over a decade after its inception and with Afghanistan still in free fall, this private sector, district-based animal health program remains vitally active. The community-based veterinary para professionals continue to provide quality services to farmers and herders, protecting their animals from the ravages of disease and improving their livelihoods, despite the political upheavals and instability that continue to plague the country. The elements contributing to this sustainability and their application to programs for improved veterinary service delivery in developing countries beyond Afghanistan are described in the narrative.

New and cutting-edge work in animality studies, human-animal studies, and posthumanism Representations of animality continue to proliferate in various kinds of literary and cultural texts. This pioneering volume explores the critical interface between animal and animality studies, marking out the terrain in relation to twentieth-century literature and film. The range of texts considered here is intentionally broad, answering questions like, how do contemporary writers such as Amitav Ghosh, Terry Tempest Williams, and Indra Sinha help us to think about not only animals but also humans as animals? What kinds of creatures are being constructed by contemporary artists such as Patricia Piccinini, Alexis Rockman, and Michael Pestel? How do 'animalities' animate such diverse texts as the poetry of two women publishing under the name of 'Michael Field', or an early film by Thomas Edison depicting the electrocution of a circus elephant named Topsy? Connecting these issues to fields as diverse as environmental studies and ecocriticism, queer theory, gender studies, feminist theory, illness and disability studies, postcolonial theory, and biopolitics, the volume also raises further questions about disciplinarity itself, while hoping to inspire further work 'beyond the human' in future interdisciplinary scholarship.

Obaysch: A Hippopotamus in Victorian London tells the remarkable story of Obaysch the hippopotamus, the first 'star' animal to be exhibited in the London Zoo. In 1850, a baby hippopotamus arrived in England, thought to be the first in Europe since the Roman Empire, and almost certainly the first in Britain since prehistoric times. Captured near an island in the White Nile, Obaysch was donated by the viceroy of Egypt in exchange for greyhounds and deerhounds. His arrival in London was greeted with a wave of 'hippomania', doubling the number of visitors to the Zoological Gardens almost overnight. Delving into the circumstances of Obaysch's capture and exhibition, John Simons investigates the phenomenon of 'star' animals in Victorian Britain against the backdrop of an expanding British Empire. He shows how the entangled aims of scientific exploration, commercial ambition, and imperial expansion shaped the treatment of exotic animals throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Along the way, he uncovers the strange and moving stories of Obaysch and the other hippos who joined him in Europe as the trade in zoo animals grew. 'A fascinating microscopic and telescopic look at the life of Victorian England's most famous animal. John Simons' richly exhaustive account of nineteenth-century hippomania engages with imperialism, Orientalism, progress, and the cultural history of Europe where Obaysch, captured from an island in the Nile River, had the misfortune to spend his life as a blockbuster attraction at the London Zoo. Poignant and empathetic, this account of an animal's appropriation and exploitation is one of those books that unfurls more about its moment in time than you could have imagined when you picked it up.' Professor Randy Malamud, Georgia State University

A unique collection of 49 historical photographs with original captions about boating, fishing and hunting in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 1965 - 66 including graphic images of a seal hunt.] Taken by John Penny an 18 year old Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) teacher from the UK who lived and worked in the local community school from 1965-66. The photographs make an important contribution to the cultural, educational and natural history of the period and beautifully depict the rich tapestry of life in and around Nain at the time. Each photo album focuses on different aspects of the community's way of life. Please note: some readers may find some of the photographs disturbing. Cover photograph: mending nets on the wharfe; photographs courtesy John Penny] Nepali Edition]

Edited by Mylan Engel Jr. and Gary Lynn Comstock, this book employs different ethical lenses, including classical deontology, libertarianism, commonsense morality, virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and the capabilities approach, to explore the philosophical basis for the strong animal rights view, which holds that animals have moral rights equal in strength to the rights of humans, while also addressing what are undoubtedly the most serious challenges to the strong animal rights stance, including the challenges posed by rights nihilism, the "kind" argument against animal rights, the problem of predation, and the comparative value of lives. In addition, contributors explore the practical import of animal rights both from a social policy standpoint and from the standpoint of personal ethical decisions concerning what to eat and whether to hunt animals. Unlike other volumes on animal rights, which focus primarily on the legal rights of animals, and unlike other anthologies on animal ethics, which tend to cover a wide variety of topics but only devote a few articles to each topic, this volume focuses exclusively on the question of whether animals have moral rights and the practical import of such rights. The Moral Rights of Animals will be an indispensable resource for scholars, teachers, and students in the fields of animal ethics, applied ethics, ethical theory, and human-animal studies, as well as animal rights advocates and policy makers interested in improving the treatment of animals.

A unique collection of 49 historical photographs with original captions about boating, fishing and hunting in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 1965 - 66 including graphic images of a seal hunt. ] Taken by John Penny an 18 year old Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) teacher from the UK who lived and worked in the local community school from 1965-66. The photographs make an important contribution to the cultural, educational and natural history of the period and beautifully depict the rich tapestry of life in and around Nain at the time. Each photo album focuses on different aspects of the community's way of life. Please note: some readers may find some of the photographs disturbing. Cover photograph: mending nets on the wharfe; photographs courtesy John Penny] Vietnamese Edition]

A unique collection of 49 historical photographs with original captions about boating, fishing and hunting in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 1965 - 66 including graphic images of a seal hunt.] Taken by John Penny an 18 year old Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) teacher from the UK who lived and worked in the local community school from 1965-66. The photographs make an important contribution to the cultural, educational and natural history of the period and beautifully depict the rich tapestry of life in and around Nain at the time. Each photo album focuses on different aspects of the community's way of life. Please note: some readers may find some of the photographs disturbing. Cover photograph: mending nets on the wharfe; photographs courtesy John Penny] Hindi Edition]

This important book charts new territory by showcasing some of the newest developments in the rapidly-growing field of Critical Animal Studies. Critical Animal Studies presents a radical ethical and normative challenge to existing systems of power in the context of neoliberal capitalism and to the existential structure of speciesism. The essays in this book link activist and academic approaches to dismantle the exploitation and oppression of nonhuman animals. Featuring an international team of contributors, the book reflects the transdisciplinary character of Critical Animal Studies, with chapters by activists and academics from disciplines across the social sciences, including historical archaeology, political science, psychology, geography, law, social work and philosophy. The book provides advanced-level students with an ideal introduction to a wide range of perspectives on Critical Animal Studies, amongst other things proposing new ways of considering animal advocacy, decolonization and liberation.