Confronting Animal Abuse presents a powerful examination of the human-animal relationship and the laws designed to protect it. Piers Beirne explores the heated topic of animal abuse in agriculture, science, and sport, as well as the potential for animal assault to lead to inter-human violence. He convincingly shows how from its roots in the Irish plow-fields of 1635 through today, animal-rights legislation has been primarily shaped by human interest and why we must reconsider the terms of human-animal relationships. To confront animal abuse, the book argues, attention must be paid not only to one-on-one cases of animal cruelty, but also to those far more numerous institutionalized harms where animal abuse often defined as socially acceptable.

Introduction
Chapter 1 Against Cruelty? The Act Against Plowing by the Tayle
Chapter 2 The Prosecution of Animal Cruelty in Puritan Massachusetts, 1636-1683
Chapter 3 Towards a Sociology of Animal Sexual Assault
Chapter 4 Horse Maiming and the Sport of Kings
Chapter 5 Is There a Progression from Animal Abuse to Interhuman Violence?
Epilogue