ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some theoretical thoughts with regard to animals. It looks specifically at criminological ideas that regard animals as metaphors for human delinquency, also briefly considering victimological thought on animals. The great anthropologist Levi-Strauss describes in his work on totemism how humans look at the animal world and think of it in terms of the social world. Animals can also be slaughtered in a ritual context as a sacrifice instead of for meat production. The Nederlands-Israelitisch Kerkgenootschap (NIK) furthermore rejected the use of scientific arguments to curtail the fundamental and absolute right of religious freedom. The Contactorgaan Moslims en Overheid (CMO) also felt that the proposed ban and the ensuing discussions affected the religious freedom of Muslims. Although today there are more Muslims living in the Netherlands then there are Jews, people following the Jewish faith take a more active part in the debate on the ban on ritual slaughter than Muslims do.
