RSPCA 2022 essay collection

What have animals ever done for us?

by Jane Goodall

As the world recovers from a global pandemic and confronts the devastating effects of climate change, human...

A pivotal moment

by Chris Sherwood

The first animal welfare legislation in the world was passed in the UK in 1822. Martin's Act forbade 'the cruel and the...

Zoomorphising humanity

by Usha Alexander

Rather than having compassion for animals because they're 'like us', true empathy comes from recognising that we're not at the...

What are they worth?

by Tony Juniper

How do we assess the value of animals? Asked to consider the value of animals, many people's first thought would be about...

Beyond the five senses

by Jackie Higgins

Animals have shown us there are myriad senses. Can we rewild our own? Some 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci observed that...

Humans as animals

by Frans de Waal

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it's that we are primates through and through. We aren't cyborgs, satisfied...

Heaven is feral

by Melanie Challenger

Looking for the wild, we can see a better world, animated by the bodies, minds and agency of other animals. Children aren't...

A child's eye view

by Henry Mance

Children love animals. So what goes wrong? I'm not sure when I first had the urge to adopt chickens. It certainly wasn't...

For better or worse?

by Harriet Ritvo

Human history has always been entangled with that of other animals, even though the details of that entanglement are not...

Battle for the planet: Why animal welfare holds the key

by Philip Lymbery

Winter in Novaya Zemlya, a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, and a snow-covered rubbish dump had been ransacked...

Following dogs following us

by Alexandra Horowitz

Understanding the way dogs experience the world is life-changing. I have been completely changed by dogs. Professionally, they...

Pandemics and climate change: Why animals are crucial

by Jeff Sebo

Unless we put animals at the centre of our health and climate policies, they won't save us. Global health and environmental...

Helping to solve loneliness

by Robin Hewings

Companion animals can help us address deep-rooted social problems. Loneliness is one of the major public health challenges...

So much depends on China

by Jeff Zhou

An insider's view of animal welfare in the world's rising power. I was one of eight children, brought up in a small village...

When is an animal not an animal?

by Paula Sparks

The law defines animals as 'things', not 'persons', leaving us in all kinds of mess. Everyone will have had experience of...

Where politics fails

by Sue Donaldson

Politics lags behind ethical progress when it comes to animals - but understanding animals as distinct political groups...

How the world changes

by Cass R Sunstein

Social change happens when ideas turn into cascades. How might that happen for animal welfare? The 1959-1964 American...

My life with a wolf

by Helen Pilcher

Humans have genetically altered animals throughout our existence. We are pretty bad at thinking through the consequences...

Woman, mother, philosopher

by Ellie Robson

One female philosopher changed prevailing - and distinctly male - ideas of human relationships with animals. Picture a...

Do we love robots more than animals?

by Kate Darling

A robotics expert argues that our relationships with robots cast light on our attitudes to animals. Thirteen years ago...

The inescapable religious dimension

by Aaron Gross

Animal advocacy is inextricably entangled with religion in ways that require us to question other forms of oppression...