A fish is caught on a hook. It struggles to escape, but does it actually feel pain? Or are its struggles automatic behaviors that occur without any conscious experience? Behind that seemingly simple question lies a much bigger one: Does feeling pain require a mammalian-style brain...
A dog waits by the door for a human caretaker to return. An elephant remains close to a calf struggling to escape the thick mud at the edge of a waterhole. An octopus investigates an unfamiliar object. A fish moves away from perceived danger. What might...
Every October 4, people around the world come together to celebrate World Animal Day, recognizing the many ways animals enrich our lives and sustain the world we share. Whether providing companionship, supporting healthy ecosystems, or inspiring wonder and discovery, animals play a vital role in...
If the animal protection movement were to anoint an official cartoonist, it would most likely have selected Gary Larson and his iconic "The Far Side" cartoon series. From early in the 1980s, it was virtually impossible to attend an animal protection conference without seeing a...
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) welcomed new legislation signed by the Mexican President, Claudia Sheinbaum, at the end of 2024, including reforms to the national constitution, enhancing animal protection. Among the reforms is Article 4, which states, "Mistreatment of animals is prohibited. The Mexican...
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...
