‘I want to bring him from the aeroplane to here’: The meaning of animals to children of refugee or migrant backgrounds resettled in Australia

This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (November 2016) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policySeparation from animals with whom children have caring relationships can lead to considerable loss and grief, perhaps especially in the case of migration. This article reports on a thematic analysis of interviews undertaken with children of migrant or refugee backgrounds who had resettled in Australia. Findings suggest that children who spoke about animals framed their experiences in ways that either evoked a sense of loss with regard to animals or referred to animals as engendering a safe haven following resettlement. The article concludes by exploring potential service responses and encourages a focus on animals' needs in the context of migration.The project reported in this article was funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, DP110100732. Funding for the write up of this article was provided as part of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, FT130100087