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492 R Hediger and so on—tend to take a similar pattern No other species wages war like modern humans Even early humans did not Recognizing this fact can have direct bearing on the way we write and think about animals and animal abuse, upsetting commonly accepted views For instance, many writers on animals and war adopt a stance of inevitability about the subject that we can resist Lemish, for example, though he writes with compassion and sensitivity regarding animals, and though he notes that he ‘does not glorify combat’ (1996, p xii), nonetheless resists ‘animal rights proponents’ and others who would ‘argue that the use of dogs by the military establishment is nothing more than exploitation’ (x) He notes that ‘a soldier does not create the conflict he is engaged in’, and therefore resembles the dog and other animals (xi) While I agree with Lemish’s point about soldiers, this fact can be used to conclude upon the unjustness of war for nearly all its participants Even when human soldiers consent to involve themselves in a war effort (something animals not do), rarely can soldiers be said to know exactly what such consent entails From that perspective, there is no entirely rational embrace of war, either for human or nonhuman animals Instead, war necessarily involves involuntary, non-rational decision-making War requires a form of commitment or compulsion that places the military unit or organization above the value of the lives of participants War is therefore inherently abusive But this reality of group effort can be turned to good effect The conduct of war relies for its power and horror upon assemblages of tools, animals, cultures, impacting all of them and the environment more generally (Nixon 2011, pp 199–232) While this complexity can make it difficult for an individual to resist war and its horrors, a culture that decides against war can turn those dynamics the other way around, making peacefulness the reality difficult to resist, using cooperation and group effort against war, and therefore against animal abuse in it References Alger, J M., & Alger, S F (2013) Canine soldiers, mascots, and stray dogs in U.S wars In R Hediger (Ed.) Animals and war: studies of Europe and North America (pp 77–104) Leiden: Brill Anthony, D W (2007) The horse, the wheel, and language: how bronze-age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world Princeton: Princeton University Press Axtell, M (2009) Bioacoustical Warfare Minnesota Review, 73/74, 205–218