This thesis argues that nonhuman animals are constructive of human societies by virtue of the complex relationships they form with humans, both at an individual and at a community level. This thesis also suggests that particular constructions of human/ nonhuman animal relationships fail to account for animal agency, and that the transgressions of liminal animals highlight this agency. Specifically, this thesis uses two case studies – deer in Oak Bay and bears on the Central Coast – to show how nonhuman animals can be seen as actors and as active shapers of our mixed-species social orderings and communities. This thesis argues that, rather than being passive objects who are subject to government policy and human orderings, these nonhuman animals are shaping political processes in their communities through the relationships they have formed with the humans around them. / Graduate