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Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies Biennial Conference, 6 – 8th December 2011, Dunedin, New Zealand Call for papers on: Animals in the leisure experience Convenor: Associate Professor Neil Carr (University of Otago) Animals may be divided into wildlife, domesticated farm and working animal, pet, companion animal, and assistance animal categories. Increasingly, each of these types of creature plays a key role, both as attractions for human beings and consumers of experiences, in the construction and success of leisure environments. This increase in the importance of animals in the leisure experience is related to changing patterns in humans’ leisure desires, the changing relationship between humans and animals, and the evolution of concepts concerning the rights of animals. While the position of wildlife and animals in zoos has begun to receive some attention from leisure and tourism studies the position of other segments of the animal population in leisure experiences remains largely under-studied. Furthermore, there is a need to integrate developing theories of animal rights within the framework of leisure experiences that have traditionally been designed to cater to the desires of the human population, utilising animals as products rather than sentient creatures with individual ‘rights’ and ‘needs’ in the process. Consequently, this session aims to act as an arena for the development of understandings of the position of animals, both wild and domesticated, in leisure experiences and the rights of humans and animals in these experiences. Potential themes for presentations include, but are not limited to: * Preservation of animals and their environments through leisure * The role of zoos as leisure attractions and centres of ecological education * The presence of domesticated, companion and assistance animals in leisure environments * The relation between gastronomic leisure and the quality of life of farm animals * The social, health, and economic costs and benefits of domestic animals in the leisure experience for humans * Hunting within the leisure experience; the rights of animals versus the needs of humans * The changing role of the farm animal in the context of rural tourism – from food product to tourist attraction * What happens when human pleasures and animal needs meet * Animals as leisure attractions, sources of food, companions, and cognizant individuals Abstracts (limited to 250 words) should be sent to Neil Carr<mailto:[log in to unmask]> ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>), by 16th of May, 2011. Authors will be notified of acceptance of their abstract for presentation at the conference by 10th of June. Please ensure that abstracts include all author names, institutions and an email contact for the lead author. Any special presentation equipment (e.g. slide projector) required should be noted in the email in which the abstract is submitted.