Multispecies health, wellbeing, and care: An antispeciesist critical study

Abstract

The interdependency between human, animal, and environmental health has been widely recognized and lies at the basis of the One Health Initiative. However, besides praiseworthy premises, health objectives are far from being achieved, especially when billions of nonhuman animals continue to be exploited for human needs. This work aims to question, recalibrate, and challenge the One Health Initiative to take seriously the condition of nonhumans in the Animal Industrial Complex (A-IC) and specifically in factory farms. Oppositely, Farmed Animal Sanctuaries (FASs) are taken as an example of places of inclusion and interspecies care where the principles of One Health are respected. No violence, domination or any logic of interest will ever cross the doors of sanctuaries, differently from factory farms, where nonhuman animals are just mere disposable bodies. But what happens if a virus enters these places? What happens when the economic interests of agrobusiness traverse the boundaries of these safe zones? Which bodies can be preserved or sacrificed for the One Health perspective? To answer these questions, a series of circumstances and events are taken into consideration. First, the conditions under which nonhuman animals live inside the A-IC; second, the wave of the African swine fever which hit Italy during summer 2023; third, the killing of the rescued pigs by Italian authorities at the sanctuary Progetto Cuori Liberi. These facts will be critically analyzed adopting the perspective of Critical Animal Studies, with the aim of promoting reflection on the management and manipulation of nonhuman life and promoting FASs as models of interspecies coexistence, justice, and care.