Imposing ferality: a technopolitical analysis of feral and free-roaming animal classification technologies

ABSTRACT

Ferality, as a concept, may be a hopeful potential of thriving life in the Anthropocene; however, ferality remains problematically grounded in contested nature-culture binaries. Government programs continue to use ferality as a classification and valuation technology, and ultimately, as a mathematical solution to a political nightmare. By approaching trap-neuter-return (TNR) policies in Miami through a technopolitical framework, this paper critically examines technologies used to identify, measure, and value free-roaming urban animals through programs to make them either live or die for strategic political agendas. TNR programs homogenize entire populations of “feral” animals. Miami’s TNR of kittens demonstrates the need for policies that acknowledge heterogeneous free-roaming animal experiences. This case study unpacks the fleshly consequences of reducing complex nonhuman animal histories to abstract statistical performance metrics. Detailed analysis of this management technology illustrates links between public pressure, political interest, and the perceived need to manage human-nonhuman relations in dense urban spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Ferality
• cats
• more-than-human
• animal politics
• killability
• multispecies ethnography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Resolution No. R-583-12 describes the initiative as “directing the Mayor to develop a program for Miami-Dade County with the goal of becoming a No Kill shelter and providing for a financially feasible strategic plan to implement ‘lifesaving’ programs and services at the Miami-Dade County Animal Services Department” (MDC Board of County Commission 2012).

2. The statistics and facts in this article rely heavily on data from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Ally Cat Allies, and scientific articles funded by Maddie’s Fund. These nonprofit organizations share the stated mission of reducing shelter euthanasia.