Creature Care: Irish Animals and the Ethic of Care

Abstract

This chapter focusing on indigenous Irish animals attempts to balance the historic and symbolic understanding of Irish animals with their ecological significance, and also, to balance the literary celebrations of threatened as well as extinct species with the rhetoric that argues for the protection of threatened species. Both the rhetoric of Irish environmental campaigns as well as their literary expressions have inevitably tapped into an audience’s awareness of the historic and symbolic significance of Irish animals. Invasions of Ireland are now also biological; many animals native to Ireland will face extinction if foreign species invading the country are not controlled.