Legal and Illegal Theriocide of Trafficked Animals 455 in large-scale social institutions The numerous sites of theriocide include intensive rearing regimes, hunting, trafficking, vivisection, militarism, and climate change (Beirne 2014, p 55) I accept his terminology, but I wish to point out that this term too may be othering because it suggests, like in the word ‘animal’, that all ‘therios’ belong to a single category, as if they were all the same In addition, we are left, once again, with a distinction between two categories: the killing of a human by a human—homicide—as one kind of act and the killing of an animal by a human—theriocide—as another If, however, one accepts that therios are as sentient as humans, then no matter by what method the acts of violence or killing are committed or whether against homo or therio, the harm committed is equal In his definition of theriocide, Beirne clarifies the etymological origin of the word (2014, p 55); It combines the ancient Greek θpíov (an animal other than a human) and the Latin cỉdere θpíov, first, is a prosaic variant of θηρ, which seems originally to have meant a beast of prey Later, θηρ was extended to other animals, probably including wild and domesticated animals and metaphorical monsters Consequently; the animals referred to in the ancient greek developed to include not only beast of prey, domesticated animals, or metaphorical monsters, but all those animals that are nonhuman Beirne also discusses which animal species could be included, without drawing a conclusion (p 60) Thus, it remains unclear who comprises the category—is a bee included?—and therefore, the degree to which those who are usually encompassed in the animal category are sentient4 and merit equal concern (Regan 1983) Because I hold that the animals discussed in this chapter are sentient, that is, they are ‘subjects of their lives’ (Regan 1983), perhaps, as Beirne (2014) suggests, the term ‘murder’ can encompass both the killing of an animal and the killing of a human Murder could equally be referred as to murder independent on the species of the sentient victim, although Beirne’s agenda is specifically to name the killing of animals, thus As this concept (‘sentience’) is usually understood, although one could, out of precaution, choose not to define this in terms of the senses and feelings humans are able to recognize and thereby acknowledge, and rather be open minded toward all nonhuman beings For example, according to recent research, even plants are sentient and intelligent (Hance 2015) Accessed 11 August 2015 from http://www theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2015/aug/04/plants-intelligent-sentient-book-brilli ant-green-internet?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Gmail)