The question of how we ought to relate to nonhuman animals is not novel, nor is it confined to specific regions of the world. All political communities have taken particular stances on how our fellow creatures ought to be conceived of and treated. Sometimes animals have been regarded as gods, and at other times as machines. Sometimes they have served to inspire human societies, and other times to show how far human beings have ‘risen’. Sometimes animals have been treated as resources for humans to use as they please, and at other times as having value in their own right.