Pests
Bethany Brookshire
Here it is, $28.99
We shall work so long that the faithful may withdraw wildly from us, whether they lay traps, build fences, or put out poisons. They are certainly annoying to unwanted guests. But what do we consider some animals to be pests? It’s all about perspective, says science journalist Bethany Brookshire. “We can release poison for rats and protest their use in laboratory animals. We can shoot a deer in a fall and show the adorable offspring to our children in spring,” he writes in his new book, Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains.
Brookshire argues that we think of animals as “pests” when we fear them (such as snakes). Or when they thrive on orders, we unknowingly created them (think rats in the New York subway). Or when they find a way to live now dominated by humans (all the deer in the suburbs). Sometimes we demonize an animal if we feel like it threatens 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 heavy emphasis on humor, Brookshire delves into how our perspective informs our relationships with our living neighbors. He also goes into the field – dragging rats, hunting pythons, taming wild cats, following the tracks of medicated bears – to see first-hand how pests behave.
Science News spoke with Brookshire, a former staff writer for Science News for students (now Science News Explores) to learn about pests and how we can deal with them. The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
SN: What inspired you to write this book?
Brookshire: I had just written a story about mice living with humans (SN: 4/19/17). [It was based on a study] showing that we had house rats when we had houses. I love that humans use these other animals as an opportunity to create ecosystems, usually when we start living organized lives. Every place that has people has its “rat.” Sometimes a rat, sometimes a pigeon or a cockerel or a lizard or a horse. It is not what these animals do. Animals live in the ecosystems we create, and we hate animals that are too close.
SN: What are you wondering about in your search?
Brookshire: A reflection of the people’s responses [to pests]. The people responded emotionally. When they stop and think, they go, “Oh wow, that doesn’t make sense. I am not caught to kill a washerman with a sword.’ But at the moment, you are so wrapped up in the violation of what you see in your personal space.
There is another thing in which social justice involves our contempt for evil. We sometimes see a lot of this hatred and disgust of animals as “low class”. The highest class of men would not include rats. And this is really about social justice, infrastructure and the ability of people to live in clean houses, to have food properly or even at all.
Also, how we treat these animals often shows traces of colonialism, as in the chapter on elephants. [In Kenya, European colonists] He caused corn and sugar to grow, which elephants love. The colonies introduced national park systems, which assumed that humans had no place in the wilderness, avoiding native pastoralists. An ivory market was founded to launch the colony. The natives did not know elephants, nor their benefits. They are the consequences of life for us. Many modern efforts to protect elephants are directed at Western people, and they take the biggest issue with the elephants and the fact that the indigenous people do not know what is best for them or the elephants. In fact, human-elephant conflict [which includes elephant crop raids] it’s a much bigger deal, and Native Americans have a long history of co-existing with elephants.
SN: In the book, you looked at many different cultures and included Indigenous voices.
Brookshire: It is important to look at the world in more than one way. Learning from other cultures helps us to understand our own studies. It is only when you are outside of your beliefs that you realize that things are not just the way they are.
SN: That shows when you write about the Temple of Karni Mata in India, the Temple is also known as Murius. Temple rats are not treated as pests, but they would be rats in the house.
Brookshire: That’s from the context. And you see that in Western cultures all the time. People love squirrels. Well, rats are generally better at PR. Then you have people who have pet rats, who would probably scream if a rat ran down the drain.
SN: Are there animals that you see as a pest?
Brookshire: No. Animal, which is probably the one with the most negative impression of people. It is ridiculous that we think something can be extinct. And I love how these animals went: “O poison? What a beautiful thing.” “O trap? You are ridiculous.” We tried to use electric fences on the elephants [to stop them from eating crops]. And the elephants are like, “Guess what? Ivory does not have electricity. “Although they have no teeth, elephants can only pick up logs [to destroy the fence].
SN: Do you hope to change people’s minds about pests?
Brookshire: I hope they ask why the pests do that. Instead of just going, “This animal moves me,” ask why, and it makes sense. I hope it opens up even more curiosity about the animals around us. I learned from the indigenous groups how much knowledge they have of the animals in their ecosystem. I hope they learn more. The world you know a lot about is a better world to live in.
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