The Five Oddest Individual Sentences in “Wild Justice”

On the (unlikely) off-chance you have something better to do than plow through all of Drew Nelles’ curious and mildly uneven meditation on criminal animals in the most recent issue of Maisonneuve, here are the highlights:

1. “In 1474 in Switzerland, Evans writes, a rooster was put to death “for the heinous and unnatural crime of laying an egg.””

2. “Some, like the unlucky French pig, were even dressed in human clothes.”

3. “So, like numerous lawyers before and since, he built his argument on technicalities: the defendants couldn’t be expected to appear in court, as Evans says, “owing to the unwearied vigilance of their mortal enemies, the cats, who watched all their movements, and, with fell intent, lay in wait for them at every corner and passage.””

4. “We say that dolphins are smart, but their eyes are still just black beads, as impenetrable as those of a snake or sparrow.”

5. “St. Clair calls Tilikum “the Nat Turner of the captives of SeaWorld” who “struck courageous blows against the enslavement of wild creatures.””