Relational Networks of Memory, Work, and Care

On social media, interspecies care is performed in online spaces, creating networks that bring together physical as well as virtual encounters between humans and animals. One such context is the Facebook page of the mounted police of Helsinki (HMP), the focus of this chapter. HMP is one of the many mounted police units around the world with a presence on social media, aiming to bring the police closer to the public. These virtual spaces communicate and perform interpretations of animal work and agency as well as interspecies care, and they also evoke memories of horse–human encounters in the past. The postings and discussions on the HMP Facebook site are explored here as performances of horse–human relations and animality, situated in virtual-real relational networks. These performances contribute to the co-production of multispecies urban imaginaries, enhancing the understanding of urban environments as multispecies and including animals in how city space is experienced and imagined.