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Quarterly Essay #45
Us and Them: On the Importance of Animals
For the first time in history, humans sit unchallenged at the top of the food chain. As we encroach on the wild and a vast wave of extinctions gathers force, how has our relationship with animals changed? In this dazzling essay, Anna Krien investigates the world we have made and the complexity of the choices we face. From pets to the live cattle trade, from apex predators to scientific experiments, Krien shows how we should – and do – treat our fellow creatures. As she delves deeper, she finds that animals can trigger primal emotions in us, which we are often unwilling to acknowledge. This is a clear-eyed meditation on humanity and animality, us and them, that brings out the importance of animals in an unforgettable way. “I am not weighing up whether our treatment of animals is just, because it isn't. That age-old debate is a farce - deep down we all know it. The real question is, just how much of this injustice are we prepared to live with?” —Anna Krien, Us & Them
125 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2012
1 person is currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Anna Krien
17 books61 followersAnna Krien is the author of Night Games: Sex, power and sport, which won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, Into the
Woods: The battle for Tasmania’s forests and Us and Them: On the importance of animals (Quarterly Essay 45). Anna’s work has been
published in the Monthly, the Age, the Big Issue, The Best Australian Essays, Griffith REVIEW, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Colors, Frankie and Dazed & Confused.
Woods: The battle for Tasmania’s forests and Us and Them: On the importance of animals (Quarterly Essay 45). Anna’s work has been
published in the Monthly, the Age, the Big Issue, The Best Australian Essays, Griffith REVIEW, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Colors, Frankie and Dazed & Confused.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 12, 2019
A brilliant Quarterly Essay, which has been sitting on one of my bookshelves for seven years. I should have read it earlier. Anna Krien examines how we treat, use and live with animals, usually for our own benefit. Her essay ranges from the killing of animals in abattoirs to using animals for research purposes, and from using animals on farms to the reintroduction of endangered animals (such as the Tasmanian devil) back into their original environments.
One interesting discussion was on predator animals, the top animal in an ecosystem. In Australia, this used to be the marsupial lion, which became extinct soon after aboriginal settlement; the Tasmanian tiger and Tasmanian devil then filled this niche; when these two animals were isolated to Tasmania, the dingo became the top predator. Dingos are now endangered. Removing a predator animal changes an ecosystem irreparably.
One interesting discussion was on predator animals, the top animal in an ecosystem. In Australia, this used to be the marsupial lion, which became extinct soon after aboriginal settlement; the Tasmanian tiger and Tasmanian devil then filled this niche; when these two animals were isolated to Tasmania, the dingo became the top predator. Dingos are now endangered. Removing a predator animal changes an ecosystem irreparably.
July 18, 2012
Wow.
I listened to this after reading Krien's fantastic book on the contentious politics of forestry and protest in Tasmania. I just think she's awesome. She is not afraid to interrogate her own position in relation to her extremely difficult material. She bravely inserts herself into difficult scenarios and watches and listens, asking the questions that we want to ask - she is questioning, curious, uncertain - she has the truthful chime of a child. She somehow manages to make even statistics engaging. She has a few idiosyncratic pronunciations which annoyed my husband, but I found her utterly adorable. I hope my daughters grow up to be Anna Krien.
I listened to this after reading Krien's fantastic book on the contentious politics of forestry and protest in Tasmania. I just think she's awesome. She is not afraid to interrogate her own position in relation to her extremely difficult material. She bravely inserts herself into difficult scenarios and watches and listens, asking the questions that we want to ask - she is questioning, curious, uncertain - she has the truthful chime of a child. She somehow manages to make even statistics engaging. She has a few idiosyncratic pronunciations which annoyed my husband, but I found her utterly adorable. I hope my daughters grow up to be Anna Krien.
August 10, 2021
I love Anna Krien. I read The Long Goodbye and felt moved too. At times I find her reflection on the truth just startling. Such good writing. Really confronting stuff but fundamentally looks at our relationship to animals, our treatment of animals in labs, factory farms, abattoirs. Most of the stories were thought provoking and disturbing. As a failed vegetarian I have struggled with the dissonance of trying to eat less meat aside iron deficiency and other health problems. This made me think even deeper about where my meat is coming from. Does it feel wrong when the truth is looked at? Yes. Will I stop eating meat because of this? Troublingly, no. I was moved by her analysis that it is hard to think of the value of animals without thinking about their benefit to us, and the question, is it better to exist to be slaughtered or to not exist at all? (Probably the second?). What kind of existence matters a lot and we should do better. I think Krien is a brilliant journalist, she has a good eye for stories and I love the kinds of questions she asks and makes the reader ask themselves. I like how she uncovers the layers of complexity in any social problem. A really well written essay.
December 21, 2025
Dear Maddie,
So glad I’m reading this as someone who went vegan 10 years ago. Still cried a lot but grateful I’m not paying people to do this to the poor cows.
There are other solutions of course but they’re not working.
So glad I’m reading this as someone who went vegan 10 years ago. Still cried a lot but grateful I’m not paying people to do this to the poor cows.
There are other solutions of course but they’re not working.
April 2, 2012
Perhaps it is because I have read so much on animale welfare but I found this QE a bit disappointing. Anna Krien had done some great research into areas that are often overlooked in the animal ethics debate (the hunting of "vermin" section was all new to me) but I failed to discern her point. It read more like a collection of random facts about animal treatment rather than a thesis with an overall message. I felt she needed to take her teacher's much referred to advice about not ending on a question.
March 22, 2015
Overwhelmingly the most life changing Quarterly Essay I have read so far. I was very reluctant to read an essay devoted to animals and how we interact and use them in our world, but I shouldn't have been.
January 2, 2016
Everyone should read this
January 2, 2018
I appreciated the nuanced view that Krien took, that whilst feeling uneasy and displeasure at the practices in Indonesian abattoirs, she refused to condemn them. Her ability to place the issue in a broader context and reflect on the views of Australians, might be more reflective of the privilege of being an Australian conveys, than of the practices themselves, I appreciated.
I did not like the use of a school debate to frame the ethics of animal testing. She only gave the one side of the debate that she was too scared to have with the surgeons (who advocated testing) whom she had the privilege to speak with. She should be able to ask the hard questions, at her best in a naïve manner.
When I think about these issues, I become uneasy and see her points. The way I cope is to not contemplate these issues often. I like meat and if I needed a pancreas transplant I would accept one from a pig, even if that cause that pigs to die. She also makes a compelling point that seeing another sentient being as “less than” is likely the basis for any ism we might have. That is what transcendence is isn’t it – the ability to see others before we see ourselves, and it takes effort. So does that include animals?
As a result of reading this book. I will likely change little, but more awareness is there. What is the point of raising awareness if it does not lead to a change in behaviour? On the other hand, once knowledge is gained it cannot be discarded. Maybe this is just another step towards my own ethical choices towards animals. N.B. I give away our chickens (once they stop laying) to be slaughtered by others. In the end I like to pay others to do the dirty stuff for me, so I can maintain a blissful ignorance of the animals that suffer so I can eat.
I did not like the use of a school debate to frame the ethics of animal testing. She only gave the one side of the debate that she was too scared to have with the surgeons (who advocated testing) whom she had the privilege to speak with. She should be able to ask the hard questions, at her best in a naïve manner.
When I think about these issues, I become uneasy and see her points. The way I cope is to not contemplate these issues often. I like meat and if I needed a pancreas transplant I would accept one from a pig, even if that cause that pigs to die. She also makes a compelling point that seeing another sentient being as “less than” is likely the basis for any ism we might have. That is what transcendence is isn’t it – the ability to see others before we see ourselves, and it takes effort. So does that include animals?
As a result of reading this book. I will likely change little, but more awareness is there. What is the point of raising awareness if it does not lead to a change in behaviour? On the other hand, once knowledge is gained it cannot be discarded. Maybe this is just another step towards my own ethical choices towards animals. N.B. I give away our chickens (once they stop laying) to be slaughtered by others. In the end I like to pay others to do the dirty stuff for me, so I can maintain a blissful ignorance of the animals that suffer so I can eat.
March 31, 2020
I just kind of wish this was longer, to be honest!
August 29, 2022
So much to think about.
April 10, 2017
Anna Krien is nothing if not a courageous author: the March edition of Quarterly Essay entitled Us and Them, On the Importance of Animals is a brave essay which is likely to provoke hostility from an assortment of vested interests who profit from the use of animals.
She is unapologetic about her position:
‘I am not weighing up whether our treatment of animals is just, because it isn’t. That age-old debate is a farce – deep down we all know it. The real question is, just how much of this injustice are we prepared to live with?’
Sparing the reader little in the way of gruesome detail, Krien explores best and worst practice in the live cattle trade which was so recently a furore here in Australia, an unedifying debate most notable for the way public opinion swung within a fortnight from outraged revulsion about the cruelty to our cattle in Indonesian abbatoirs and demands for an end to the trade, to panic-stricken calls for its resumption lest cattle-farmers be plunged into penury and the economy of the entire state of Queensland and Northern Territory collapse. (Needless to say, what was happening to the animals remained constant throughout).
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/03/12/us...
She is unapologetic about her position:
‘I am not weighing up whether our treatment of animals is just, because it isn’t. That age-old debate is a farce – deep down we all know it. The real question is, just how much of this injustice are we prepared to live with?’
Sparing the reader little in the way of gruesome detail, Krien explores best and worst practice in the live cattle trade which was so recently a furore here in Australia, an unedifying debate most notable for the way public opinion swung within a fortnight from outraged revulsion about the cruelty to our cattle in Indonesian abbatoirs and demands for an end to the trade, to panic-stricken calls for its resumption lest cattle-farmers be plunged into penury and the economy of the entire state of Queensland and Northern Territory collapse. (Needless to say, what was happening to the animals remained constant throughout).
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/03/12/us...
April 25, 2012
““In the eyes of a butcher a horse is already dead,” wrote Georges Bataille." 113
“I am not weighing up whether our treatment of animals is just, because it isn’t. That age-old debate is a farce – deep down we all know it. The real question is, just how much of this injustice are we prepared to live with? That is the premise of this essay." 147
“Today in Australia, according to statistics collated by the Australian Association of Humane Research, close to 7 million animals are used in research and teaching annually, and the figure is growing, not declining." 861
“An apex predator is ultimately a presence. Mid-level predators are kept in check and their territory is sufficiently limited, while herbivores regulate their behaviour and breeding. Fear keeps the entire system living within its means." 1156
““Half the pleasure of having a dog, I could see, was storytelling about the dog,” wrote Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker, and I can’t think of a more accurate statement to describe my relationship with animals." 1405
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June 7, 2013
I enjoy narrative non-fiction, in general, and I found this one compelling. Superficially, it tracks the rape trial of a footballer, but its main subject is the intersection between sex, power, and football culture. Krien considers such issues as entitlement, the way society enables football culture and poor behaviour, the issue of consent in rape (particularly is our sexualised society), and the need for ethical/moral behaviour. Krien is self-questioning, but analytical rather than emotional. It's worth reading, even if you don't care a hoot about football. For my full review, please see Whispering Gums: http://whisperinggums.com/2013/06/06/...
May 15, 2014
I enjoyed this but found it a little too short. I wanted more! An analysis of our relationship with animals, by the half way mark I wasn't feeling too much hope. Tales of Indonesian slaughterhouses will do that to you. Then we got on to the topic of yellowstone national park and how bringing back the wolves that has previously been removed was the key to the rejuvenation of that park. The apex predator is key! Fascinating! Then the closer to home story of using guardian dogs to protect sheep from dingoes came up. Great examples of two species working together beautifully to achieve a common goal! I went from feeling a bit depressed by the book to feeling very enthused and hopeful.
I'll definitely track down more of Anna Krien's work.
I'll definitely track down more of Anna Krien's work.
November 6, 2013
This essay gets to some core truths about why the human-animal relationship has gone so awry.
It's not all bad news, some solutions are celebrated and explored, once Krien has written honestly of what she encountered in Indonesian slaughterhouses engaged in the Australian live export chain.
Krien's at her best when placing human and animals in context - there's no "us and them", just "us", and she shows that it's conscience, not religion or anthropology, which is the ultimate proof of this assertion.
A must-read for people with food choices they are pressed to defend at the dinner table.
It's not all bad news, some solutions are celebrated and explored, once Krien has written honestly of what she encountered in Indonesian slaughterhouses engaged in the Australian live export chain.
Krien's at her best when placing human and animals in context - there's no "us and them", just "us", and she shows that it's conscience, not religion or anthropology, which is the ultimate proof of this assertion.
A must-read for people with food choices they are pressed to defend at the dinner table.
July 25, 2012
More arguments for treating animals better. So many cohesive and important arguments. A wonderful picture of the colours of our Anima Mundi, how many ways we interact with them (either directly or indirectly.)
Just read the book. And then try to look at your dinner, pet, etc in the same way.
Just read the book. And then try to look at your dinner, pet, etc in the same way.
March 8, 2017
Some interesting analysis here. However, a lot of the end results feel like a cop out. If you know that something is unjust and you have the ability to choose not to commit the injustice then you have a responsibility not to commit it.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews