How do debates surrounding animal welfare intersect with efforts to control 'Invasive alien species'?

Abstract

How would you define “invasive alien species”? Have you met any of theseindividuals? Do you understand their life experiences? There is an immenselyintertwined linkage between ecology and language. Namely, “how humans treateach other and the natural world is influenced by our thoughts, concepts, ideas,ideologies and world-views” (Stibbe 2021, 2). Which are actively shaped andperpetuated by language. So what do we mean when we use the phrase “invasivealien species”? Languages and discourses have been exploited to perpetuateinequalities, hidden in our everyday communication “of unlimited economicgrowth as the main goal of society” (Stibbe 2021, 3). Theorised by critical discourseanalyst Teun Van Dijk (2006, 139), ideologies are often “mapped onto discourse”,typically “expressed in terms of their own underlying structures”, such as thefrequent use of “us” and “the others”. This paper is guided by the perspective ofcritical animal and media studies, which insists the vitalness of revelation of hownonhuman animals are communicated. It explores the phenomena of “invasivespecies management” from three areas: (i) discourse-adaptation which helps tojustify this on-going act; (ii) the main beneficiaries of such conduct; and (iii) ethicalconcerns for such human intervention. The aim is to investigate the justifiedcruelty that is majorly overlooked, and purposely hidden by mainstreaminformation sources, searching for a fuller picture of the reality of “invasive speciesmanagement”.