Which author analyzes the global trade in exotic animals and argues that non-human life is deeply embedded within capitalist systems?

• A. Collard, Rosemary-Claire. Animal traffic: Lively capital in the global exotic pet trade.
• B. Bubandt, N. et al. Rubber boots methods for the Anthropocene: doing fieldwork in multispecies worlds.
• C. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring
• D. Parsons, Laurie. Skeletons, dragons and the 'climate war'

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is that living beings can function as part of economic systems, not as separate, passive objects. Rosemary-Claire Collard’s work, Animal traffic: Lively capital in the global exotic pet trade, centers on how exotic animals are brought into global markets and how their lives become tied to profit, risk, and financial logics. She uses the notion of “lively capital” to show that non-human life moves through supply chains just like commodities: breeding, capture, transport, insurance, compliance with regulations, and resale—all of which generate value and shape outcomes for people, animals, and ecosystems. This approach makes clear that non-human life is embedded in capitalist processes, influencing where money flows, how rules are made or evaded, and who bears the costs (such as welfare concerns, biodiversity loss, and socio-economic effects on sourcing communities).

That focus is what makes this author the best fit for the question. The other works diverge from this specific link between exotic animal trade and capitalist entanglements: one discusses fieldwork methods in multispecies contexts without centering global trade and capital; another critiques pesticides and environmental harms without analyzing how non-human life is integrated into capitalist markets; and the last engages climate discourse in a way that doesn’t directly address the exotic pet trade or capitalist embedding of non-human life.