7 Transformative Animal Protection Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka 7.1 Introduction Te goal of this chapter is to address an important challenge confronting animal protection organizations (APOs): their im- mediate mandate is to rescue and protect individual animals, but can they also contribute to long-term structural transformation of human-animal relations? APOs like the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) operate in profoundly challenging and unjust circumstances—a world in which the killing and exploi- tation of animals on a massive scale is routine, sanctioned by law, and woven into the very fabric of modern capitalist societies and economies. APOs struggle valiantly to create a space that can pro- vide basic care and protection for some of the animals trapped in this animal-industrial complex 1 and promote policy changes aimed at blunting the violence. But the prospect of justice in human– animal relations is remote; APO staf are continuously confronted with tragic choices and a disheartening sense of being caught up in scenarios of unending crisis and band-aid solutions rather than contributing to a longer-term project of meaningful change for animals. Indeed, APO staf may feel not only powerless to change these larger structures, but also at risk of becoming morally implicated in the very practices they hope to change. Whereas activist animal rights groups can take an uncompromising stand not to collaborate with unjust practices or institutions, APOs can rarely aford that Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka, Transformative Animal Protection In: The Ethics of Animal Shelters. Edited by: Valéry Giroux, Angie Pepper and Kristin Voigt, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197678633.003.0009 OUP UNCORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOF – FIRSTPROOFS, Tue Nov 15 2022, NEWGEN C7 C7S1 C7P1 C7P2 /12_frst_proofs/fles_to_typesetting/validation Giroux210722_EAP_BR_ATUS.indd 282 Giroux210722_EAP_BR_ATUS.indd 282 15-Nov-22 20:08:44 15-Nov-22 20:08:44