Introduction: This paper examines the compatibility of anthrozoological research with moral panic theory, using the example of a study of media-driven conflict between humans and urban foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in England between 2009 and 2014. It proposes a novel theoretical framework for the study of moral panic to address common criticisms of moral panic theory and, in particular, reflect on the implications for moral panic theory of taking animal agency seriously. It does so by incorporating insights from Hacking’s (1992) work on interactive kinds into our understanding of deviance amplification and asking to what extent animals are impervious to our labelling.
Methodology: I combine Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional model of discourse with Maneri’s (2013) five-stage model of moral panic. Critical discourse and framing analysis of a large sample of tabloid and broadsheet newspaper articles, as well as a selection of television documentaries, pest control industry publications and lobby group materials spanning a five-year period is used to track the emergence and development of the moral panic and provide a detailed exposition of the ways in which aberrant characteristics, behaviours and intentions were attributed to the urban fox folk devil.
Main Results: Application of this method yields a typology of media frames which are connected via significant discursive themes (visibility, transgression, intentionality, belonging, authenticity and disgust) and reveals that the urban fox ‘folk devil’ was rendered killable by tapping into existing anxieties surrounding human/animal relations in urban space and human social conflict more widely.
Principal conclusions and implications for the field: This study operationalises recent developments in the fields of moral panic theory and discourse analysis and finds that moral panic theory is a critical tool with which to challenge social reactions to human/wildlife conflict. It is particularly appropriate where the media are influential agents.