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This chapter examines issues around animal rights and wildlife rights exploring the notion of wildlife as belonging to ‘no-one’ or as belonging to ‘everyone’ in a manner that arguably should create a form of rights. Animal rights debates often centre around the need to provide rights for recognized sentient species (chimpanzees, dolphins, apes) and this chapter critically considers these debates, arguing that our exploitation of wildlife amounts to an infringement of certain rights. The chapter also contrasts the greater level of protection and limited rights provided to companion animals with that provided to wildlife, and argues for a limited extension of rights to wildlife in the form of legal personhood that protects them from certain forms of exploitation. The chapter includes case studies of the recent US case that attempted to argue for legal personhood in respect of several chimpanzees and the Argentine case that granted legal personhood to the Orang-utan, Sandra.

This chapter considers matters pertaining to animal rights and animal welfare. More specifically, it deals with the concept of speciesism. This refers to the practice of discriminating against nonhuman animals because they are perceived as inferior to the human species in much the same way that sexism and racism involve prejudice and discrimination against women and people of different colour. The chapter examines questions such as which species are threatened, Illegal wildlife trade and why some species are favoured by human communities and some are non-valued. How harm to animals is conceptualised thus very much depends upon the perspective one has on the ontological status of animals, the endangered species (their essential ‘nature’ or ‘being’), and how one views the relationship between humans and nonhuman animals.

Are there only crimes against humanity (Derrida, 2002)? Certainly not. And Wildlife Criminology aims to expose the range of crimes against non-humans that are overlooked, ignored, and hidden and argues for an expansion of the criminological gaze to include harms against wildlife. This chapter examines the future of wildlife criminology in relation to each of the chapter topics to demonstrate the wealth of research that is possible, which can challenge the exploitation and suffering that is a fundamental feature of many aspects of our societies. This chapter revisits wildlife as property, food (and other ‘products’), sport, reflectors of violence, and victims of human violence as well as their plight to achieve rights and justice. There is much more research and advocacy to be done to improve the lives of wildlife and the health of the planet, this chapter ends with thoughts on some of what can be done.