Palmer Alexandra, Skidmore Tess, Anderson Alistair
School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Soc Cult Geogr. 2022 May 13;24(9):1519-1537. doi: 10.1080/14649365.2022.2073465. eCollection 2023.
This paper explores what happens to care, and decisions about ending and extending life, when research animals become pets and pets become research animals. To do this, we draw on in-depth qualitative research on (i) rehoming of laboratory animals, (ii) veterinary clinical research, and (iii) the role of the Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS) in UK animal research. We begin by exploring how (in theory and practice) the ethical, affective, and practical elements of care are split in the research laboratory. We then investigate arguments for and against ending and extending animal life via clinical research and rehoming, highlighting how these activities bring norms and dilemmas around animal death in the laboratory and veterinary clinic to the fore. We conclude by demonstrating the value of investigating borders between animal categories for understanding dilemmas around care and death, and for contributing to emerging literatures within geography around animal care, death, and categorisation. Key contributions of our work include highlighting: how care roles can be split; the importance of considering speculative and in-practice elements of care; the context-dependency and multiplicity of practices of killing in the veterinary clinic and laboratory; and the flexibility and changing nature of animal categories.
本文探讨了当实验动物成为宠物以及宠物成为实验动物时，护理情况以及关于结束和延长生命的决策会发生什么变化。为此，我们借鉴了关于以下方面的深入定性研究：（i）实验动物的重新安置，（ii）兽医临床研究，以及（iii）英国动物研究中指定兽医外科医生（NVS）的角色。我们首先探讨（在理论和实践中）护理的伦理、情感和实际要素在研究实验室中是如何分开的。然后，我们调查支持和反对通过临床研究和重新安置来结束和延长动物生命的论点，突出这些活动如何将实验室和兽医诊所中围绕动物死亡的规范和困境凸显出来。我们通过证明研究动物类别之间的界限对于理解护理和死亡困境以及为地理学中围绕动物护理、死亡和分类的新兴文献做出贡献的价值来得出结论。我们工作的主要贡献包括突出：护理角色如何能够被分开；考虑护理的推测性和实际要素的重要性；兽医诊所和实验室中杀戮实践的情境依赖性和多样性；以及动物类别的灵活性和不断变化的性质。
