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Killing Them ‘Softly’ (!): Exploring Work Experiences in Care-Based Animal Dirty Work

2021; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 36; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/09500170211008715

1469-8722

Linda Tallberg, Peter J. Jordan,

Emotions and Moral Behavior

Working with animals is a daily occurrence for millions of people who often complete tasks which are tainted, in spite of the work being seen as essential in modern society. Animal shelter-work is such an occupation. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the caring–killing paradox (a dissonance that workers face when killing animals they are also caring for), through an insider ethnographic study. We find that care-based animal dirty work consists of unique ambiguities and tensions related to powerlessness, deception and secrecy in the work based on a ‘processing-plant’ framework which informs how workers deal with unwanted animals. We find competing ideologies of care and control to be foundational in this work.