In the depressing and sad wake of the recent ghastly tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, the details of which are easily available and too horrific to repeat here, a number of people have asked me, "What can we learn about human violence from nonhuman animals?" Given recent acts of heinous human...

In 2007 I published a book called Animals Matter and at about the same time Erin Williams and Margo Demello published a book called Why Animals Matter. And just this month another book called Why Animals Matter by Marian Dawkins has been published. I think of it as "Dawkins' Dangerous...

Humans are a force in nature. We're all over the place, big-brained, big-footed, arrogant, invasive, menacing, and marauding mammals. No need to look for mythical Bigfoot: we're here! We leave huge footprints all over the place and have been rather unsuccessful at solving urgent problems. Robert Berry fears we're simply...

Chimpanzees have been much in the news recently. There's been a lot of concern about their use in invasive biomedical research and deceptive ploys by those who want to use them (more background information and discussion can be found here and here and

Anyone who's kept up with the latest and greatest about the cognitive, emotional, and moral lives of nonhuman animals ("animals") knows "surprises" are being uncovered almost daily and that many non-primate animals are showing intellectual and emotional capacities that rival those of the great apes. Some fascinating new...

I know many of you have heard this questions over and over again, "Why kill turkeys to celebrate Thanksgiving?" They say repetition is boring conversation but I feel it's essential to ask this question repeatedly, because there really is no reason at all to slaughter sentient beings in the name...

Every now and again I learn of a formal move to make the lives of animals better, and none could be more needed and timely than a new pending bill that is geared to ban wild animals in traveling circuses. HR 3359 has been introduced to do just...

By now many of you know about an incredibly bizarre incident involving animals who ran rampant after being released from a private animal reserve near Zanesville, Ohio after one of the owners of the reserve released them and then apparently shot himself. I first heard about it early...

On a recent trip to Toronto, Canada to celebrate World Animal Day with Jill Robinson, Founder and CEO of Animals Asia I first went to a protest organized by Toronto Pig Save, a group founded by Anita Krajnc. This wonderful grassroots organization is made...

There's much continued debate about how clever we are and how clever other animals are. This was among the wide variety of topics discussed at a recent meeting about the similarities and differences between us and other animals, mainly the great apes. While we certainly are exceptional in...

I recently had the pleasure of attending an incredible meeting called "Playing Into the Future -- Surviving and Thriving." The major theme of this international gathering concerned the importance of play for children and how we can create a future where play is valued and where every country...

"Man in his arrogance thinks of himself a great work, worthy the interposition of a deity. [Yet it is] more humble and, I believe, true to consider him created from animals." (Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man)

Nonhuman animals (animals) are magnificent and amazing beings. They clearly have wide-ranging cognitive,...

As I've pointed out in many essays (see also) our relationships with other animals are confused, challenging, frustrating, and range all over the place. Recently we've learned that rhesus monkeys, called "Furry couch potatoes," are being used to study human obesity and...

Animal abuse remains rampant in a wide variety of places. I'm always surprised by what I read about how we treat nonhuman animal beings in situations where abuse seems unimaginable.

But it's incredibly easy to contribute to ending it.

So many of us spend a lot...

December 21 is National Hamburger Day. It's interesting that a dead cow on a bun is called a hamburger rather than a cowburger, so I looked up the origin of the word. I discovered that historically, beef and other meats served on a bun were called "Hamburg steaks"...

I just learned about the Claws for Paws event to be held December 3-5, 2010, sponsored by the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. I encourage them not to go ahead with their planned fundraiser. Lobsters and many animals who we think don't feel pain actually...

This week, a meeting sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is being held to recognize improvements that have been made in animal welfare. But, are laboratory animals really better off now than in past years?

Consider that about 15-20 million rodents are used in...

Our relationships with nonhuman animals are complicated, frustrating, ambiguous, and paradoxical. When people tell me that they love animals and then harm or kill them, I tell them I'm glad they don't love me. We observe animals, gawk at them in wonder, experiment on them, eat them, wear them, write...

Yet another captive orca, Sumar, has died in captivity, once again at a SeaWorld faciity in San Diego. Sumar, the son of Tilikum, the orca who killed trainer Dawn Brancheau earlier this year, died after being lethargic the day before he passed away. SeaWorld uses Tilikum as one...

A forward-looking and long overdue symposium called Compassionate Conservation will be held from September 1 - 3, 2010 in Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford. The meeting, sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and the Born Free Foundation, will focus on major themes including...