The world of Hogwarts is magical in most cases, but for those who aren’t human the wizarding world can be a terrifying, even dangerous, place. Animals are placed in an especially vulnerable position. Whether Wizard or Muggle, humans have a bad habit of using animals for experimentation and convenience—a misdemeanor which Hogwarts students are not exempt from.
Whether it be in the art of transfiguring animals, or even in fighting them, animals often end up with a raw deal.
1) Transfiguration
The most telling passage in the book involves pincushions. Students are instructed to transform their subjects into pincushions; if the spell is successful, the pin cushion should lose all sentience and therefore have no reaction when a pin is stuck into it. If the spell isn’t successful, then the “pin cushion” will cringe away from the needle, as though it can still feel pain. At this stage of transformation, the animal is conscious enough to move and attempt to avoid danger. However, it’s too easy to picture someone like Crabbe filling his cushion with needles as an attempt to hide his shoddy magic—regardless of how transformed the subject is. Moreover, for those animals who weren’t transformed properly, what kind of life are they facing? How uncomfortable is it to suddenly be trapped in the body of an inanimate object? Are they blind? Can they smell, or even breathe?
The animals don’t stay in this state forever, but it’s likely they are taken out repeatedly to be used by the next house or year which comes along. It’s likely the majority of their lives are comprised of being handled by children and poorly transfigured. The implications for even those correctly turned are unnerving—after all, they lose consciousness completely and, animal or human, that doesn’t make for a pleasant experience. In the worst case scenario, an animal could be stuck in this state forever should a witch or wizard choose not to change it back.
Other classes involve animals being turned into buttons or water glasses. For the water glass course, students practice on their own pets (and, as shown by the second book, Animagi, or humans in animal form, aren’t entirely impervious to this process). These are twelve year old’s practicing on their beloved pets; there are too many ways magic can go wrong, especially when many of those students might be nervous about hurting their animal companions. Ron’s wand could have set Scabbers on fire (though in hindsight, most fans wouldn’t have felt too sorry for him).
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2) Defense Against the Dark Arts
While Defense Against the Dark Arts mostly focuses on teaching students combative magic and various means to block such spells, Lupin, in one of the students’ more interesting years, takes them through a course in which they need to learn to fight other creatures.
The students begin by reading about the animals, which include Redcaps and Grindylows, in books. However, by the end of the year, students are expected to take a practical test. This involves them fighting the creatures; aside from the danger to the students themselves (which necessitates it’s own blog) this could have dark implications for the animals.
These creatures are being forced into contact with humans, and conflict. Students are throwing spells at them; while most students are unlikely to kill any of these animals, they’re still being hurt.
What’s more, it’s not clear where the animals came from. Are they orphan rescues who are now being subjected to the role of practice dummy, or were they taken from the wild?
It’s hard to blame Lupin for wanting to give his students practical experience, but one has to question the larger system behind the acquisition of the animals. Should they really be used as practice by inexperienced teenagers? Were they taken from their homes? Is their role as practice dummies removing them from happier lives in the wild? These questions remain unanswered.
3) Care of Magical Creatures
Mostly, this class involves students looking after animals. It teaches them how to care for them, what to feed them and, most importantly, how to respect them. For hippogriffs, respect means bowing and earning it’s respect in return. For unicorns, a woman’s touch is preferred. Creatures should be handled gently, and studied with caution when necessary. These aren’t pets; they’re wild animals, brought there so students can better understand the magical side of nature.
Unfortunately, mistakes can happen and there’s only so much supervision a teacher can offer. What if a student is careless, and a creature escapes? While it’s unlikely a (wise) teacher would bring anything too dangerous to class, necessitating an attack on the animal to protect the student, an animal might become loose to it’s own detriment.
If an animal isn’t native to Hogwarts’ habitat, and it becomes lost in the (highly dangerous) Forbidden Forest, there’s no telling what could happen to it. The same implication is present in these classes too: most of these creatures, for one reason or another, would have been removed from their wild environments.
Harry is one such careless student; when he’s not paying attention, his Bowtruckle jabs him and flees for the trees. Thankfully, the Bowtruckle in this scenario has exactly what it needs and will likely flourish, relieved to be free from it’s human captors and a teenager which held it too tightly. Still, Harry’s subject was lucky; other animals are still at risk of being abandoned in a poor area.
More reckless teachers might put the animals at risk, too. Most fans can’t pretend they don’t love Hagrid—though most fans can’t pretend he’s responsible, either. Though well meaning, Hagrid thrusts both the students and the creatures in his care into uncomfortable situations. His infamous Blast Ended Skrewts are as much a danger to each other as they are to the teens, going so far as to kill each other when Hagrid doesn’t make the effort to keep them apart. Hagrid actually knows very little about these dangerous specimens; he doesn’t even know what to feed them, though readers and students alike can probably guess what they would really like…and it’s likely not something pleasant.
Even in classes where everything could have gone well, students like Malfoy put animals at risk. When Malfoy angers Buckbeak, he is struck; his first response is to go to his cruel father, Lucius, who makes a point of having Buckbeak executed. If not for the intervention of Harry and Hermione, the hippogriff would have been killed—a death which would have been government sanctioned no less. Fudge makes no move to overthrow the case, and comes as a witness to the animal’s death. Despite Hagrid’s testimony that Malfoy aggravated the hippogriff to begin with, and that common sense should dictate a wild animal will hurt you if you bother it, the case goes against the poor feathered beast.
Buckbeak might have escaped, but his potential punishment reveals a system which doesn’t value it’s animals, but in fact poses a danger to them when they don’t behave exactly as humans might like. This is only another item on a (long) list of reasons the Ministry is corrupt.
4) The Triwizard Tournament
The Triwizard Tournament is already controversial for the danger it puts students in. 17 is still a young age to risk your life, no matter how much gold or admiration one might earn. The tasks, while supposedly toned down from past years, are still quite dangerous. What’s more, all of them involve magical creatures and humans forcing themselves into conflict with them.
The first task involves dragons. The dragons come from a colony, overseen by experts like Ron’s brother, Charlie. They generally do what they can to assure the dragons are being properly cared for, are breeding, and otherwise thriving. They try to educate people on why having pet dragons is a bad idea, and are proactive in retrieving dragons who need homes.
Yet even these protected dragons aren’t exempt when the Ministry comes calling for creatures. Though the dragons are, again, unlikely to be hurt by students, they are nevertheless put through a great deal of stress. The first task is so dangerous because the champions might retrieve a golden egg from a mother’s own nest of eggs. These mothers are put through fear as teenage humans continually run at their young (which also have the chance to be smashed if the student is careless). If dragons are an endangered breed, why are eggs being risked in this manner?
Even before the task begins, the dragons are subjected to stunning spells, being crowded by humans, and being caged in an unfamiliar environment. When not incapacitated, the dragons are shown to be angry, breathing fire and thrashing about to escape. Any animal expert will tell you this kind of treatment is bad for an animal’s health, especially when the animal in question is made to suffer as a means of entertainment. Unnecessary stress is it’s own form of cruelty.
The film version is even worse: Harry’s Horntail seems to be killed. It’s possible she was retrieved later…but the movie doesn’t confirm this. In the book, the implication is that she’ll be returned home…but it’s likely she’ll remember the trauma the humans put her through before she can.
This is just the case for the dragons, to say nothing of the damage which could have been done to the ecology of Hogwarts’ lake or those animals taken from other countries. There are numerous beasts brought into the maze. No one (except perhaps Hagrid) cares if a rare species of spiders has to be killed when the students defend themselves. It’s not clear, either, how much say the Sphinx has in her capture, given her speech makes her intelligent. Did she have a choice in being taken from her home? Was she offered any compensation for her time? Given the Ministry’s track record, it’s more likely she was packed up as just another commodity to be used in wizarding sport.
5) Potions
It’s not clear how much animals are involved when it comes to the creation of potions. Things like rat tails might be used, but one hopes the rats died of old age before having their tails removed. According to Pottermore, some forms of animal usage did end up being banned—especially since most of the “cures” involving them were hogwash.
Regardless, the Potions class led by Snape can be a less than friendly environment for animals. Snape fans should take heed, since this passage concerns a scene in which Snape threatens animal abuse.
Neville is terrible in Potions, and Snape threatens to poison his toad, Trevor, if his next potion isn’t a success. The potion is supposed to turn Trevor back into a tadpole if it’s done correctly. The implication here is that if it’s not (which would have been likely, given Neville’s track record) Trevor could instead be poisoned. To the relief of readers, Neville’s potion is brewed correctly (though mostly because Hermione whispers instructions in his ear).
Snape isn’t bluffing, either. Upon the completion of the potion, knowing Neville is likely to fail, Snape asks Neville to bring Trevor and his potion up to the front. The potion is administered to the toad…and he turns into a tadpole, a moment which surprises Snape. Snape was expecting the potion to turn out badly, and was willing to risk Trevor’s life in order to humiliate Neville.
Snape might have been a hero in other situations, but it’s hard for animal lovers to forget his moment of attempted animal abuse. It’s yet another class where even the students own cherished pets were put at risk.
There are likely more instances of animal cruelty not covered in this article, but these remain some of the more flagrant examples. Whether it be unnecessary stress, or risk of death, the animals interred at Hogwarts endure their share of suffering. One can only hope going forward that Hogwarts, and the larger system behind it, adapts to protect its species, and to respect them.
What is needed is an activist, a bright student who is willing to take a stand for animal rights. This could be a story in it’s own right (and my bet would be on the child of Luna Lovegood, given her own career path).
Would you like to see a spin off story where someone fights for animal rights at Hogwarts? What other fantasy series had dark implications for the treatment of animals? Share your thoughts!