8 J Maher et al chapters to this volume By design, we encouraged a multidisciplinary focus—conjoining lawyers, animal welfare/rights practitioners and journalists with academics—to discuss a particular type of animal abuse, writing, where possible, from a research-based and/or practitioner perspective While the book was constructed with criminology and related subjects in mind, the selection of topics and construction of the book was deliberately chosen to make it accessible to a wide range of academic disciplines—including law, human–animal studies, forensics and environmental studies It is our hope that this collaborative multidisciplinary approach opens new horizons and that it will enable new approaches to the understanding and prevention of animal abuse This Introduction sheds light on key issues in animal abuse studies The Handbook has seven Parts Chapter provides an introduction to the book and to key issues in animal abuse studies The following parts focus on specific harms and abuses experienced by animals within each of the areas identified above Part I contains six chapters which redefine the abuse of domesticated animals These chapters suggest that because domestic animals are wards under our control, they should receive an appropriate level of care and protection That said, their closeness exposes them to specific harms, which are largely consistent with the continuum of abuse experienced in interpersonal domestic relationships—such as physical and psychological abuse, sexual abuse, cruelty and neglect Consequently, ‘the link’ between animal abuse and interpersonal violence has received widespread recognition from both animal and human welfare groups, from social care, law, psychiatry, and so on, resulting in some types of animal abuse being recognised as serious harms and crimes (for example, animal sexual assault and status dogs ownership) and others as indicative of mental health disorders (for example, animal hoarding and neglect) However, each chapter highlights the ambivalence inherent in our responses to animal abuse and the importance of context to understand the motivation for, and problematic responses to, animal abuse Part II presents two accounts of the abuse experienced by animals in farming The need for a harm-based definition of animal abuse is central to this discussion The normative everyday practices of animal food production collectively result in the most widespread and systematic abuse of animals Unlike the abuse of domesticated animals and the intense societal response, the abuse endemic in the farming of animals is normalised and contributes mightily to the cultural hegemony of meat production and to the general subjugation of animals