We spend so much time ensuring wildlife stays away from us, whether that’s setting traps, building fences, or putting out poisons. Sure, unwanted guests are annoying. But why do we consider some animals “pests”? It’s all about perspective, says science journalist Bethany Brookshire. “We can put poison out for rats and protest their use as laboratory animals. We can shoot deer in the fall and show their adorable offspring to our children in the spring,” she writes in her new book, Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains.
Brookshire argues that we deem animals “pests” when we fear them (like snakes). Or when they thrive in a niche we unintentionally created for them (think rats in the New York subway). Or when they find a way to live in a habitat now dominated by humans (all those deer in the suburbs). Sometimes we demonize an animal if it’s threatening our ability to control the landscape (like coyotes that attack our livestock, pets, and even children).
Through the lens of science, history, culture, religion, personal anecdotes, and a hefty dose of humor, Brookshire breaks down how our perspective shapes our relationships with our animal neighbors. She also goes into the field trailing rats, hunting pythons, taming feral cats, tracking drugged-up bears — to see firsthand how pests are treated.
What surprised you during your research?
Brookshire: The reflexives of people’s responses [to pests]. People respond emotionally. When you make them pause and think about it, they go, “Oh wow, that doesn’t make any sense. I should not be caught trying to kill a raccoon with a sword.” But at the moment, you’re so wrapped up in the violation of what you see as your personal space.
The other thing is the extent to which our disdain for pests is wrapped up in social justice. A lot of times we see this hatred and disgust for animals that we see as “low class.” High-class people don’t have rats. And that’s really about social justice, about infrastructure and the ability of people to live in clean houses, store their food properly or even have a house at all.
Also, the way we deal with these animals often has vestiges of colonialism, as in the chapter on elephants. [In Kenya, European colonists] made people grow corn and sugarcane, which elephants love. Colonization created national park systems that assumed that humans had no place in the wilderness, shoving out Indigenous pastoralists. Colonization created the market for poached ivory. And colonizing people assumed that Indigenous people did not like elephants or know their benefits. We are living with the consequences. Many modern efforts at elephant protection are spearheaded by Western people, and they assume the biggest issue with elephants is poaching, and that Indigenous people don’t know what’s best for themselves or the elephants. In fact, human-elephant conflict [which includes elephant crop raids] is a far bigger problem, and Indigenous people have a long history of coexisting with elephants.
SN: In the book, you looked at many different cultures and included Indigenous voices.
Brookshire: It’s important to realize there’s more than one way to look at the world. Learning from other cultures, helps us understand our biases. It’s only when you get outside your own beliefs that you realize that’s not just the way things are.
SN: That shows up when you write about the Karni Mata Temple in India, also known as the Temple of Rats. Temple rats are not treated as pests, but a rat in a house would be.
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