Māori concepts for animal ethics – introduction

In the Māori world, animals are related to humans through whakapapa. Animals as well as humans are descendants of ngā atua and as such are considered to have their own mana and tapu.

This article brings together resources that explore animal ethics with a kaupapa Māori approach.

The influence of labels on how we view animals

People have always grappled with their relationships with other species, particularly animals.

We make sense of our relationships with particular animals through words that act as labels with in-built value judgements embedded in their meanings. These words put animals in categories – the labels assign rules to the ways in which humans interact with animals, acting as claims of entitlement and/or a prerogative to inflict harm.

For example, in English, the label of vermin or pest for an animal entitles humans to poison, trap and kill that animal with the aim of eradicating it. Such animals include rats and mice, cockroaches, flies and bed bugs. Under the right circumstances, a wide range of animals can become seen as pest species – such as when animals are introduced into alien ecosystems or urban development usurps habitats – including possums, rabbits, pigeons, foxes and wolves.

Māori attitudes towards kiore (Pacific rat or Polynesian rat, Rattus exulans) are very different from the ubiquitous Western view of rats and mice. In Māori thinking, kiore are not seen as a nuisance – or worse – but as a thing of some considerable value. Kiore were purposefully brought to Aotearoa by the ancestors of Māori who managed local populations in rāhui kiore or reserves.

Extinct on the mainland since about 1922, numerous kiore populations remained viable for many decades on offshore islands yet were targeted for total extermination along with other rats by the Department of Conservation.

Māori philosophical concepts underpin respect for truth and the natural world of which both animals and humans are part. Find out more about these concepts in the articles Māori ethical ideas and How do Māori ideas relate to animal ethics?

‘Lab animal’ is a label that entitles scientists to inflict harm on these animals because they exist for the purpose of research and testing to build scientific knowledge. In recent times, some lab animals have been genetically developed for scientific testing.

Another label used by people in relation to animals is ‘livestock’. Bestowing this label on an animal means that it exists in order to feed humans and, in most cases, to be eaten.

While the labels ‘vermin’, ‘pest’, ‘lab animal’ and ‘livestock’ sanction the inflicting of pain or death on animals, there is also the label of ‘pet’. Being a pet entitles an animal to particular types of privilege and protection that other animals do not enjoy. Humans form bonds of affection with their pet and share parts of their life with it. There is also the notion that a person ‘owns’ their pet. This notion of ownership colours the relationship because it considers a pet as an item of property that can be acquired, possessed, sold or discarded.

The separation of nature from culture

Over the course of many centuries, people in Western cultures have come to view themselves as separate from animals. This separation is a bifurcation of nature (animals) from culture (humans). This bifurcation accelerated with the post-Enlightenment rise of science and empiricism. It was a shift away from relying on traditional and innate ideas.

Through a modern lens, animals came to be viewed as lacking in intelligence or consciousness. These ideas justified social licence for animals to be objectified and commodified, used (and abused) as resources for experimentation, food and work, pets and companion animals and in entertainment (in zoos and circuses). Animals were not being seen as sentient, emotional beings.

During the first half of the 20th century, concern about this inhumane view of animals was growing and coalescing into organised forms. Darwin’s paradigm-shifting ideas about evolution gave these concerns a new scientific basis. Understanding was developing that people are part of the animal kingdom, closely related to mammals such as primates, just as in the old indigenous and Māori nature narratives.

The Three Rs of animal ethics – replacement, reduction and refinement – were first introduced in 1959. Animal welfare was the major locus of concern due to the manner in which individual animals were being treated, and legislation to protect certain species of animals began to be enacted.

Overturning earlier conceptions

As time proceeded and new technologies became available, research results were showing that, in fact, animals are complex creatures and that, just like us, they experience pleasure and pain, fear and distress. It is not only primates with their close genetic similarities to humans who are now seen as sentient. Large vertebrates such as cows on dairy farms are known to mourn the separation from their newly born calves.

Overturning earlier conceptions of (lack of) intelligence, invertebrates have been shown to have consciousness. Recent research has shown that bumblebees play – a biological phenomenon believed to contribute to the healthy development of both cognitive and motor skill abilities in living entities. Age and sex differences were noted in bumblebee play behaviour, reflecting similar evidence about play in larger vertebrates.

Rising concern over how humans treat animals, especially within modern industrialised nation-states, led to discussions among philosophers, animal welfare advocates, ethologists and in society at large under the umbrella of the recently emerging field of animal ethics, straddling science and philosophy. There are two main approaches to a theory of animal ethics – a unifying approach and a relational approach, with fuzzy boundaries between the two.

Meet the specialists

Meet six Māori practitioners who work in a diversity of fields involving live animals. They discuss the impact of mātauranga Māori on their work and highlight Māori concepts that underpin their ethical views:

• Dr Kimiora Hēnare (Ngāti Hauā, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa) – cancer researcher
• Dr Leilani Walker (Te Whakatōhea, Thai) – behavioural ecologist
• Professor Eloise Jillings (Ngāti Maru Hauraki) – veterinarian and university educator
• Hilton Collier (Ngāti Porou) – agribusiness consultant
• Te Winiwini Kingi (Te Waiariki Ngāti Kororā) – kaumātua and pekapeka expert
• Rauhina Scott-Fyfe (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha) – archivist and sea lion researcher.

As part of this suite of resources we captured the thoughts of Dr Kimiora Hēnare, Dr Leilani Walker and Professor Eloise Jillings in these additional inspirational videos below:

• Dr Kimiora Hēnare and cancer research
• Animal ethics in action
• Insects, spiders and animal ethics
• Māori scientists, traditional concepts and working with animals
• Māori concepts for animal ethics
• Tikanga in research and teaching
• Karanga tahi – Calling future Māori scientists (as above)
• Karanga rua – Calling Māori and Pacific students to be vets