ABSTRACT
For materiality is always something more than mere matter: an excess, force, vitality, relationality, or difference that renders matter active, self-creative, productive, unpredictable. The notion of caring while keeping an emotional distance is something that Science and Technology Studies scholar John Law reflects about in his study of veterinary work with British cattle. The ritual of surgery is at once murderous, painful, healing, and full of love. Yet, alongside the fascination with flesh—and especially with the fleshiness of the other-than-the people who is at the same time also so very similar-to-the people—there is also a sense that fleshy matters and imageries can be appalling, gory, and repulsive to many. This chapter provides a glimpse into the material and technological aspects of the zoo veterinarian’s work, aiming to expose readers from the social sciences and humanities to the lifeworld of zoo and aquarium veterinarians and to their ecology of practice.
