As discussed in a three-part series of articles in WellBeing News, the world regularly overlooks the devastating impact of human conflict on non-human animals and the environment. The tragic loss of human lives and families and the destruction of homes and cities capture our attention....
Jonathan Birch is a philosopher at the London School of Economics who has dedicated significant time and effort to studying sentience and how to identify sentient beings or systems reliably. He was the lead author of a report that advised the UK Government on the...
Book review of Cowpuppy by Gregory Berns, published by Harper Collins, 2024 As in the immortal film classic about the rescue of Elsa the baby lion, where the opening scenes cover the struggle to persuade the motherless cub Elsa to drink milk to survive, Gregory Berns also...
Peter Singer is an Australian philosopher widely regarded as the "father" of the modern "Animal Rights" movement. However, as a Utilitarian, Singer does not agree with rights-based philosophical arguments. Like Jeremy Bentham, who argued that the criterion placing animals on the moral scale was their...
Author David M. Peña-Guzmán, Ph.D., loves intellectual challenges. Previously, he wrote an article on whether or not animals can commit suicide, which has been downloaded over 44,000 times from the WellBeing International Studies Repository since its publication in late 2017. Now, the author has shifted...
The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger & Planta Sapiens by Paco Calvo with Natalie LawrenceRecently, two important books were published -- a year apart – and centered on the same topic: reviewing the accumulating scientific evidence that plants can and should be perceived as sentient...
Jane Goodall at 90: Celebrating an Astonishing Lifetime of Science, Advocacy, Humanitarianism, Hope and Peace; Edited by Marc Bekoff & Koen MargodtJane Goodall will turn 90 in early April 2024. This book consists of 90 memories or comments ("candles" as termed by the editors) by...
At the end of 2015, a new academic journal, Animal Sentience, was launched with internationally renowned cognitive scientist Dr. Stevan Harnad as its Editor-in-Chief. The journal, published by WellBeing International, provides a moderated forum where invited experts debate challenging and controversial ideas relevant to the...
After the ban on logging in Thailand, thousands of elephants became "unemployed." Some roamed the big cities like Bangkok, where mahouts sold fruit to citizens and tourists to feed their elephants. A city is not a good place for an elephant, but the elephants could...
In March 2014, the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy organized a conference in Washington on animal sentience. Following the meeting, several participants asked whether any follow-up was planned. Their queries prompted the establishment of a new, open-peer-commentary journal, Animal Sentience, with cognitive scientist...
