The Bird was a Valuable One”

Bibliographic Data

ID12418408
AuthorsN Cushing (0000-0003-1204-9840, School of Humanities and Social Science, The University of Newcastle CallaghanAustralia, corresponding author), Kevin Markwell (0000-0002-1814-1480, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University LismoreAustralia)
Year2017
Volume25
Issue6
Pages592-609
Publication date2017-10-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociety and Animals (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1063-1119 • E-ISSN: 1568-5306
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/15685306-12341474
OpenAlexW2765251892
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited16

Australian native, nonhuman animals at first intrigued and then disappointed newcomers as Australia was colonized by the British in the late eighteenth century. They were disparaged as unproductive and unpalatable oddities, killed as competitors to introduced species, or harvested as a source of fur and feathers for export. Focusing on the period 1803 to 1939, this paper examines one exception to this general pattern: the keeping of native animals as “pets.” Contemporary newspaper articles and advertisements are drawn upon to demonstrate that the Australian native fauna kept as pets were highly valued both emotionally by their “owners” and economically in the commercial trade and the courts. This valuation had few direct benefits to species overall because it remained focused on individual pets and was not shared with free-living animals, but it did keep alive an interest in native animals that greatly expanded in the mid-twentieth century

Advertising · Biology · Business · Competitor analysis · Ethnology · Fauna · Feather · Geography · Newspaper · Valuation (finance · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation · Ecology · Marketing

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