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We will explore the fundamental question of why these science-based efforts are created and in what ways they impact animal protection.

Several public declarations and published pronouncements of support for legislation have been created over the years by scientists to establish a consensus about the capacities of animals and sometimes also to garner support for their protections. Examples include: the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans, and the recent New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, among others.

In this webinar, we explore the fundamental question of why these science-based efforts are created and in what ways they impact animal protection. 

Legal scholar Kathy Hessler explores this issue with three scientists who have been part of the creation of three declarations:

  • Jonathan Birch, NY Declaration of Animal Consciousness
  • Jennifer Jacquet, Support US OCTOPUS Act to keep Octopuses Wild
  • Lori Marino, Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans

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Speakers and Presentation Titles

Jennifer Jacquet - Why Canvass for Octopuses?

Jennifer Jacquet is a Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami, and affiliated faculty with the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. From 2012–2022, she worked in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University. 

Jonathan Birch - Background to the NY Declaration on Animal Consciousness

Jonathan Birch is a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and is Principal Investigator on the “Foundations of Animal Sentience” project, a European Union-funded project to develop better methods for studying the feelings of animals and new ways of using the science of animal minds to improve animal welfare policies and laws. In 2021, he led a review for the UK government that shaped the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022. In 2022-23, he was part of a working group that investigated the question of sentience in AI.

Lori Marino - Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans: From Affirmation to Action

Lori Marino is a neuroscientist who has studied animal behavior and intelligence for thirty years and was on the faculty of Emory University. She is Founder and Executive Director of The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy and President of the Whale Sanctuary Project. Lori is internationally known for her work on the evolution of the brain and intelligence in dolphins and whales (as well as primates and farmed animals). She has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters, and magazine articles on comparative brain anatomy and cognition, self-awareness in nonhuman animals, human-nonhuman animal relationships, and the evolution of intelligence. Lori also has interests in bioethics and animal law and policy, and, in particular, in the intersection of science and law.

Moderator

Kathy Hessler is the inaugural Assistant Dean for Animal Legal Education at George Washington University Law School (GWU), and Director of the Animal Legal Education Initiative (ALEI), working with Joan Schaffner and Iselin Gambert, in a program made possible by generous support from ALDF.

Dean Hessler has been a clinical law professor for 30 years and has been teaching animal law for 22 years. She is the first law professor hired to teach animal law full-time. She received her JD from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary and her LLM from Georgetown University Law Center.

Dean Hessler helped develop the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School (L&C). For fourteen years she taught there and directed the Animal Law Clinic, which was named one of the top fifteen most innovative clinics in 2015. She also created and directed the Aquatic Animal Law Initiative and is the co-founder of World Aquatic Animal Day along with Amy P. Wilson.

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