Animal Abuse in 'Harry Potter'

Oct 15, 2020

"We must recognize that we’re all part of a web of life around the world."
-Gaylord Nelson

Fantastic Beasts & How to Harm Them

Because the wizarding world is so vast (and so speciesist), the animal abuse we will be exploring today is taken directly from the Harry Potter books, though I may allude to information found outside the stories if relevant. Any abuses by Muggles or through the use of Dark Magic will not be included unless it directly relates to something common in the rest of the wizarding community. Instead, we will be focusing on how the average magical person uses animals in school and life.

Dementors & Animal Emotions

Though dementors are always described as creepy, bone-chilling (literally) creatures, it's not their fault that they exist and feed off the happiness of humans. Sure, it's not ideal for us, but we learn from how the Ministry of Magic oppresses them that they need some level of freedom or else they'll join Dark forces. If we treat them with a little kindness and don't deny them their basic instincts and needs, then we could develop a less strained relationship. However, dementor rights is an issue for another day. What I really would like to discuss is Sirius.

Animagi

Sirius' escape from Azkaban is one of my biggest problems in the entire series because the logic is fundamentally flawed and egregiously speciesist. In the long-winded explanation of Sirius' escape, we learn that he was able to sneak out of the prison because he was an unregistered Animagus, able to transform into a dog at will. As Azkaban is guarded only by dementors, who cannot see and can only feel the emotions of living creatures, he was able to escape because dementors can't easily sense animals, as they have less-than-human feelings.1

Where do I even begin with something so absurd? First, there is the distinction between animals and humans, even though humans are just one species in the animal kingdom. Second, there is an assumption that all humans have emotional intelligence and have "human" feelings; what about babies, brain dead individuals, or people with anti-social personality disorder who may not experience emotions like joy or sadness the same way as other humans?

Third, anyone that has had a dog greet them when arriving home or heard the mournful cries of dairy mothers after their babies were kidnapped can tell you that nonhuman animals certainly have feelings. The fallacy behind the "less-than-human" excuse is the assumption that humans are the pinnacle of emotion, that no other creature is capable of feeling the way humans do because we are the most emotionally sophisticated and advanced beings to ever exist. But if we were as intelligent as we believe, we would understand that other animals experience and think things that are utterly incomprehensible to our human minds. And perhaps other animals have even more complex feelings than humans.

Though this excuse had to be created for the plot of the story, it seems very uninformed and ignorant, though not entirely unexpected.

Hogwarts Classes

Potions

Though I don't consider Severus Snape to be a particularly good person, I also wouldn't classify him as Dark as other Death Eaters. That being said, his Potions classroom and office are filled with jars of pickled animals, and the art of Potions is incredibly reliant on using animals, which leads me to my main queries about Potions: Where do they acquire all these random ingredients -- armadillo bile, crocodile hearts, pufferfish eyes, bat spleens, leech juice, lionfish spine, eel eyes? Who in the world figured out how to combine them together into usable potions? And are there any alternatives to these ingredients that would be cruelty-free?

Herbology

One of the more interesting ethical conundrums I've come across is how many magical plants are given animalistic qualities: the Venomous Tentacula teethes like a baby;2 Bubotubers squirm of their own volition and excrete pus when squeezed;3 Mandrakes go through various stages of life, from screeching infancy to angsty teenhood to lethal maturity, before being sliced up for anti-petrification potions. Even though Professor Sprout is my favorite Hogwarts teacher, I find it so disturbing that she could just "kill" -- if that's even the right word -- the Mandrakes, which would have been their fate even if multiple students hadn't been Petrified by the basilisk.2 And during the Battle of Hogwarts, she and Neville throw screaming adult Mandrakes at Death Eaters as they siege the grounds.4 Are these plants sentient, or am I just projecting my feelings onto them?

Transfiguration

While the animal ingredients used in potions are already dead, animals used in transfiguration are very much alive. It's often considered a moment of levity when one of the leading trio -- generally Harry or Ron -- accidentally kill or almost kill their animals. In their second year, for instance, Ron accidentally squashed his beetle that he was supposed to be turning into a button.2 In nearly every documented Transfiguration class, the students are turning inanimate objects into animals, animals into inanimate objects, or animals into other animals: mice into snuffboxes, rabbits into slippers, teapots into tortoises, guinea fowl into guinea pigs, etc.

What happens to animals that suffer botched transfigurations, which happens all the time with students? Where do all the animals come from to be used for transfigurations? Are they created out of thin air, similar to my theory about how food is produced? What happens to them afterward? Is it ethical to Vanish them even if they were Conjured out of nothing? It's not like they are somehow less sentient or alive than "real" animals because the Muggle Prime Minister gave his niece the gerbil Fudge transfigured from a teacup.5

Hagrid

Even though he's a fan-favorite, I've never been a big Hagrid fan. He reminds me of hunters that call themselves animal lovers and conservationists, preferring animals for his own fascination with how they work than for the animals themselves. For example, he "loves" dragons, but in the way that Muggles love tigers at the zoo. He buys a dragon egg (illegally) and hatches it in Harry's first year;6 he jumps at the chance to use dragons, like in the Triwizard Tournament, where nesting mothers are taken away from their homes and forced to protect their eggs in an arena full of screaming fans -- how are they supposed to know that the stolen egg from their nest isn't actually theirs?;3 he somehow acquires raw dragon steak to ease the pain of his injuries from Grawp;7 and he wears dragonhide boots/gloves, as do most wizards. (To be clear, I'm not placing the blame for Hagrid's fascination with and use of dragons solely on him, because dragons are one of the most abused magical creatures in the entire series. And that isn't all Hagrid's doing.)

This is basically his interaction with all nonhuman creatures. From breeding a manticore and a Fire-crab to create Blast-Ended Skrewts to keeping an old-fashioned pen of chickens, he sees animals more as useful but interesting things to play with. Like nonvegan veterinarians and wildlife experts, he believes himself to be an animal lover, but he's just a hypocrite. However, I do believe that he could become vegan if someone confronted him about his speciesism.

Owls

Owls are synonymous with the wizarding world, and they are doubtless the most prevalent iconography associated with Harry Potter. One of the very first shops we see in Diagon Alley is Eeylops Owl Emporium, where Hagrid buys Hedwig for Harry as a birthday present, saying that toads went out of fashion ages ago, similar to how Percy is gifted his owl, Hermes, after becoming a prefect.2 ,6 Companion animals in the wizarding world are nothing more than another item to mark off on their school checklist.

Though the Weasleys practically work their poor "ancient" owl Errol to death, I found Ron's behavior towards his personal owl to be even more disturbing.2 He is constantly annoyed by Pigwidgeon's spritely personality, the young bird's joie de vivre an obvious irritant. Even at home, he sometimes keeps Pig locked in his cage, which, for all owls, are generally just big enough for them to stand, but are inadequate for even opening their wings, let alone getting the kind of exercise they require.3

One of the most puzzling aspects of owl use is how exactly owls know where to go when receiving and delivering mail. The Wizarding World article on owls is decidedly vague, with the only explanation being that owls are innately magical, "just as pigs are reputed to be innately non-magical," (figures) or that owls have somehow acquired magical traits from being used by wizards for so long.8 But why not just send mail with magic instead of all the hassle of using thousands of owls? It seems that, much like the Muggle world, the wizarding community prefers the inefficient use of animals over the simpler alternative.

House-Elves & S.P.E.W.

Because I already discussed house-elves in a prior post, I won't say too much here. One thing I wondered, though, when last reading through the books is why Harry is so opposed to liberating elves after knowing Dobby. Sure, maybe he thinks Hermione is overreacting because the elves at Hogwarts are treated far better than most, but doesn't he care about elves like Dobby and Winky who are indentured to a cruel family? Most elves aren't under the protection of kinder wizards like Dumbledore and the Hogwarts faculty -- though that in no way makes keeping house-elves ethical -- and are seen just as slaves to their masters.

For such a kind-hearted boy interested in always working for the greater good, often while breaking rules and laws in the process (like an activist), it seems strange for him to be so ambivalent, as if he believes the treatment of Dobby and Winky by their former masters is an exception instead of the norm.

Quidditch

The early days of what we now know as Quidditch were quite dependent on animals. In the early twelfth century, witches and wizards often hunted Golden Snidgets, which became a new addition to the game; thankfully, today, Snidgets are a protected species and have been replaced in Quidditch with Golden Snitches. Kennilworthy Whisp notes in Quidditch Through the Ages, "Snidget-hunting was reprehensible in many ways. Every right-minded wizard must deplore the destruction of these peace-loving little birds in the name of sport."9

However, the German game of Stichstock and the English Swivenhodge both originally used an inflated dragon or pig bladder, respectively, in place of the modern Quaffle. In the eleventh century, at the game of Queerditch Marsh, we have the first known occurrence of a leather Quaffle, which, though reformed now to be completely seamless, is still used to this day. Interestingly, Whisp makes no comment on the fact that Swivenhodge is still played recreationally or that cows are killed for Quaffles.9 (Is it possible that cows aren't killed for leather in the magical world and the leather is magicked into existence? Perhaps, but further explanation is required.)

Pests

Harry's time at the Burrow gives us a chance to learn more about the lives of normal wizarding families. One of the chores tasked to Harry and the Weasley kids is to de-gnome the garden. Garden gnomes are seen as pests and are treated as such: The kids swing the gnomes around their heads and launch them into the air, as if shot putting, justified by Ron because he claims it doesn't hurt the gnomes and simply makes them too dizzy to figure out how to get back. Though initially disturbed at the idea, “Harry learned quickly not to feel too sorry for the gnomes” because one bit him (an understandable reaction when they're being evicted from their homes).2

This is not the last time gnomes are treated with such malice, as we also see one being used atop the Burrow's Christmas tree in Harry's sixth year, and Ron kicks at one out of frustration before Bill and Fleur's wedding.4 ,5 Strangely, however, the Weasleys' allow the ghoul to remain in their attic and don't seek to banish him from the premises. (They do, however, transform him to look like Ron with spattergroit before he, Harry, and Hermione leave to search for Horcruxes, which, though the ghoul doesn't seem to mind, doesn't seem very considerate.4)

In Grimmauld Place before Harry's fifth year, all the kids and the Order set about cleaning out the antiquated home. Consulting Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests, they clear out a doxy infestation, spraying the creatures with a paralytic and dumping their bodies into a bucket. They also remove a "murderous old ghoul," spiders, and a nest of dead puffskeins and destroy a harmless boggart.7