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Presenters: Bekoff, Cheever, Davis, Knight

Marc Bekoff
Co-founder, Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Research in cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds) along with common sense, clearly shows that animals are emotional, compassionate, empathic, and moral beings. What we observe when animals interact with one another tells us a lot about what's happening inside their heads and hearts. Animals' lives are very public, not hidden, private, or secret, and the privacy of mind argument that we can never know what animals are thinking or feeling is over-used and goes against solid arguments based on evolutionary continuity among difference species. It's a cop-out. It's not that difficult to assess the emotional state and well-being of animals. I'm incredulous that some skeptics actually question whether animals feel anything (and even if they think). I'm glad I'm not their dog.

When I talk about moral behavior in animals, what I call "wild justice", I will focus on the details of social play behavior especially in dogs, coyotes, and wolves - the many ways in which animals play fairly and honestly. When animals play they carefully signal their intentions to cooperate and to play, they trust that playmates will obey the rules of fair play, and they forgive and apologize to one another so that play can continue as play and not escalate to aggression. Individuals fine-tune their interactions "on the run" by paying attention to what is happening from moment to moment. It's amazing what we can learn when we look at how animals play fairly and cooperate with one another.

We're essentially big-brained, big-footed, arrogant, invasive mammals. We're very confused about our relationships with other animal beings and we ignore nature by ignoring who (not what) they are. When people tell me they love animals and then harm them I say I'm glad they don't love me. Concerning ethics, we owe it to all individual animals to make every attempt to come to a greater understanding and appreciation of who they are - emotional, empathic, and often moral beings, not insensitive objects. When we're not sure about what they're feeling, we should leave them alone. Quite often "good welfare" isn't "good enough". We can always do better. 

By minding animals we can expand our compassion footprint and make the world a better place for all beings. It's not all about us. We are powerful animals but power does not mean license to do whatever we want. We need to be more humble and realize that we suffer the indignities to which we expose other animals.

A large number of my essays on these topics can be found here and here.

Holly Cheever, DVM
Humane Society Veterinary Medicine Association.

Click here for a printable version of one of Holly's stories.

I plan to narrate several anecdotes of animals I have experienced in my vet professional life and their intelligence/planning/memory/problem solving they exhibit and to point out that this has survival value.

Karen Davis
Founder & President, United Poultry Concerns

I will discuss the social life of chickens and the mental states that I believe they have and need in order to participate in the social relationships that I have observed in them. I will present a personalized, candid discussion of what I know, what I think I know, and what I am unsure of but have observed relevant to the minds of chickens in their relationships with each other and with other species and with me. Chickens evolved in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains and the tropical forests of Southeast Asia where they have lived and raised their families for thousands of years. Most people I talk to had no idea that chickens are natives of a rugged, forested habitat filled with vibrant tropical colors and sounds. Similarly surprising to many is the fact that chickens are endowed with memory and emotions, and that they have a keenly developed consciousness of one another and of their surroundings. My experience with chickens for more than twenty years has shown me that chickens are conscious and emotional beings with adaptable sociability and a range of intentions and personalities. I will relate my personal stories about the chickens at our sanctuary to how chickens are treated in factory farming and live poultry markets.

Andrew Knight
Director, Animal Consultants International

Updating the case for animal rights
This presentation summarizes a lengthy academic article by Animal ethicist Judith Benz-Schwarzburg and I in the first edition of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics' new Journal of Animal Ethics. The article effectively updates the case for animal rights. We describe some of the latest findings about cognitive and related abilities such as language, culture and Theory of Mind, in species such as primates, birds and dolphins. We explore the moral implications arising from increased understanding of animal characteristics such as these. Stronger evidence exists than ever before for widening the circle of moral consideration beyond humans, and for the granting of basic rights akin to fundamental human rights to species possessing advanced cognitive and related characteristics.