The aim of the New Horizons in Criminology series is to provide high-quality and authoritative texts that reflect cutting-edge thought and theoretical development in criminology, have an international scope and are also accessible and concise. This book certainly fits that brief. Wildlife Criminology is a much-needed and timely contribution to the literature and, having built quite a reputation in this area, Angus Nurse and Tanya Wyatt were the right people to write it. Writing alone or together, or with others, Angus and Tanya have authored some key texts on wildlife crime and on green criminology more broadly (for example, Nurse, 2013, 2015, 2016; Wyatt, 2013; Hall et al, 2017). The current text is the logical culmination of much of this work and proposes a specific ‘wildlife criminology’.

The book opens with the observation that ‘The harm and crime committed by humans does not only affect humans.’ This is such a simple statement, yet it is a fundamental challenge to the anthropocentrism of criminology. The response is, well, what can we do – or ought we do – about this? And is it a criminological concern? After reading this book the reader is left with little doubt that wildlife is of criminological interest. The authors clearly unpack what they mean by harm and crime to non-human species and ‘develop criminological thinking in respect of the importance of non-human animals within law and order discourse’ (p 2). Their focus is on both crime and harm, because much that humans do to animals is harmful, yet is not necessarily a breach of criminal law.

The book is concerned with animal wildlife while recognising that wildlife encompasses other forms of life as well. As highlighted in the book's conclusions, non-animal wildlife will be an important consideration for the future of wildlife criminology. Angus and Tanya examine the commodification and exploitation of wildlife in the context that much wildlife is perceived as human property there for human consumption as food, sport or entertainment. Our response to this may be to protect; yet the authors highlight that wildlife protection and classification can also reflect speciesism, with a social construction of wildlife that is ‘deserving’ or ‘undeserving’ of protection – a narrative of victimhood that will be familiar to many criminologists and victimologists.