Trash Animals : How We Live with Nature's Filthy, Feral, Invasive, and Unwanted Species

Why are some species admired or beloved while others are despised? An eagle or hawk circling overhead inspires awe while urban pigeons shuffling underfoot are kicked away in revulsion. Fly fishermen consider carp an unwelcome trash fish, even though the trout they hope to catch are often equally non-native. Wolves and coyotes are feared and hunted in numbers wildly disproportionate to the dangers they pose to humans and livestock. In __Trash Animals__, a diverse group of environmental writers explores the natural history of wildlife species deemed filthy, unwanted, invasive, or worthless, highlighting the vexed relationship humans have with such creatures. Each essay focuses on a so-called trash species—gulls, coyotes, carp, cockroaches, magpies, prairie dogs, and lubber grasshoppers, among others—examining the biology and behavior of each in contrast to the assumptions widely held about them. Identifying such animals as trash tells us nothing about problematic wildlife but rather reveals more about human expectations of, and frustrations with, the natural world. By establishing the unique place that maligned species occupy in the contemporary landscape and in our imagination, the contributors challenge us to look closely at these animals, to reimagine our ethics of engagement with such wildlife, and to question the violence with which we treat them. Perhaps our attitudes reveal more about humans than they do about the animals. Contributors: Bruce Barcott; Charles Bergman, Pacific Lutheran U; James E. Bishop, Young Harris College; Andrew D. Blechman; Michael P. Branch, U of Nevada, Reno; Lisa Couturier; Carolyn Kraus, U of Michigan–Dearborn; Jeffrey A. Lockwood, U of Wyoming; Kyhl Lyndgaard, Marlboro College; Charles Mitchell, Elmira College; Kathleen D. Moore, Oregon State U; Catherine Puckett; Bernard Quetchenbach, Montana State U, Billings; Christina Robertson, U of Nevada, Reno; Gavan P. L. Watson, U of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Cover 1 Contents 8 Foreword 10 Acknowledgments 16 Introduction 18 Part I. The Symbolic Trash Animal 46 Chapter 1: See Gull: Cultural Blind Spots and the Disappearance of the Ring-Billed Gull in Toronto 48 Chapter 2: Hunger Makes the Wolf 56 Chapter 3: Beauty and the Beast 84 Chapter 4: Managing Apocalypse: A Cultural History of the Mormon Cricket 103 Part II. The Native Trash Animal 122 Chapter 5: One Nation under Coyote, Divisible 124 Chapter 6: Prairie Dog and Prejudice 141 Chapter 7: Nothing Says Trash like Packrats: Nature Boy Meets Bushy Tail 156 Part III. The Invasive Trash Animal 168 Chapter 8: Canadas: From Conservation Success to Flying Carp 170 Chapter 9: The Bard’s Bird; or, The Slings and Arrows of Avicultural Hegemony: A Tragicomedy in Five Acts 188 Chapter 10: Fly-Fishing for Carp as a Deeper Aesthetics 199 Part IV. The Urban Trash Animal 216 Chapter 11: Metamorphosis in Detroit 218 Chapter 12: Kach’i: Garbage Birds in a Hybrid Landscape 231 Chapter 13: Flying Rats 238 Part V. Moving Beyond Trash 260 Chapter 14: Kill the Cat That Kills the Bird? 262 Chapter 15: An Unlimited Take of Ugly: The Bullhead Catfish 274 Chapter 16: A Six-legged Guru: Fear and Loathing in Nature 284 Chapter 17: The Parables of the Rats and Mice 301 Publication History 308 Contributors 310 Index 314 A 314 B 315 C 316 D 318 E 318 F 319 G 320 H 321 I 322 J 322 K 322 L 323 M 323 N 324 O 325 P 325 Q 327 R 327 S 328 T 329 U 330 V 330 W 330 Y 331 Z 331 In Trash Animals, a diverse group of environmental writers explore the natural history of wildlife species deemed filthy, invasive, or worthless, highlighting the vexed relationship humans have with such creatures. Each essay focuses on a so-called trash species-gulls, coyotes, carp, and magpies, among others-examining the biology and behavior of each in contrast to the assumptions widely held about them In this book, a diverse group of environmental writers explore the natural history of wildlife species deemed filthy, invasive, or worthless, highlighting the vexed relationship humans have with such creatures. Each essay focuses on a so-called trash species - gulls, coyotes, carp, and magpies, among others - examining the biology and behavior of each in contrast to the assumptions widely held about them