The final version of this manuscript was published in 2012 Administrative Theory & Praxis, 34(1), 85-112 Symposium on “Public Administration” Regarding the Animal: Elements of a Different Biopolitics for Public Administration Thomas J. Catlaw Thomas M. Holland Arizona State University School of Public Affairs thomas.catlaw@asu.edu Abstract: Although the discussion of the relationship of “nature” and administration has gone dormant in public administration this paper seeks to re-engage this debate by examining the human/animal division in administrative life. The anthropocentric nature of the field is examined and connections are made to the Cartesian foundations of public administration. The concept of speciesism is explored and it is argued that the same arguments utilized to render nonhuman animals to bare life have also been used against a variety of human groups. The extent to which nonhuman animals are pervasive throughout the daily activities of public administration despite being absent from the literature of the field is also discussed. Finally this paper concludes by proposing a shift toward a new biopolitics that is open to reexamining the human/animal relationship and incorporating nonhuman animals as actors in governance.