ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in this book. Animal agency has preoccupied the field of animal studies since its emergence in the last decades of the twentieth century. Asserting that non-human animals have agency is a way of asserting that they have standing – that they matter – that they deserve consideration. The proximate audience for most such assertions consists of like-minded humanists and social scientists. But the ideal audience is much broader, since even a cursory survey of the experience of most animals at human hands or in human power will demonstrate that this attitude is far from universal. The presumably happy lives of cherished companion animals, numerous though they are, unfortunately remain the exception rather than the rule. If there is consensus within animal studies about the existence of animal agency, agreement about its exact nature remains elusive.
