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Christmas Roundup and Appeal

22nd December 2022

Our rescue dog Max

Dear Friends

As 2022 draws to a close, we reflect on a year of challenges and successes.

As many of you know, Andrew has been in the hospital. It is a delight to tell you that the operation went well, and he is now at home recovering. Recovery will be long and slow, and Clair will be answering most of your emails for the time being.

Through all of the challenges we persevere and we are proud of what we have accomplished this year.

In case you haven’t caught up, our highlights include:

  • Our 2022 Summer School on Animals and Public Policy went ahead. Thanks to the support of the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, the Kirkpatrick Foundation, Compassion in World Farming, and Susan and Dan Boggio our event was a great success. It was so wonderful to see so many of you again in person. You can see the video of the Summer School and the photos on our website.
  • We are glad to announce the Call for Papers for our Eighth Annual Oxford Animal Ethics Summer School on “Animals and the Media: Communicating Ethical Perspectives on Animals.” You can find all the details of the 2023 Summer School here. We will be opening registration in the New Year.
  • We were delighted to write an Amici Brief on behalf of “Happy” the Elephant for Nonhuman Rights Project. Our theological brief argued that elephant captivity is contrary to Christian Ethics and was presented to the Court of Appeals of the State of New York earlier this year. The case, although unsuccessful, resulted in two significant dissenting opinions. We were touched to have an endorsement from Virginia McKenna OBE, co-founder of the Born Free Foundation: “I support your urgent and humane attempt to achieve the release of “Happy” the elephant to a Sanctuary. … we have no right whatsoever to deny an animal its natural way of life. I support all the humane efforts of Professors Andrew and Clair Linzey to free Happy from her isolation and loneliness. And with the utmost urgency.”
  • We have again been making films to help educate people about animal ethics. You can see all of the Centre’s videos on our YouTube channel. Here is an update on our big filming projects.
    • We released our short film Oxford: The Home of Controversy About Animals. The film follows Andrew on a walking tour of Oxford as he presented the major historical figures who have pioneered animal protection. You can see the film on the Centre’s website, YouTube and Vimeo.
    • The full-length documentary about our Andrew, and his life-long work for animals is in post-production and should be released in 2023. We are still looking for donations to support the release of the documentary, if this is something you are interested in, please do get in touch as we have a range of levels of sponsorship.
  • The Journal of Animal Ethicspublished by the University of Illinois Press released another two brilliant issues addressing topics, such as legal personhood for animals, a debate on whether a fish can be betrayed, animal ethics based on friendship, the ethics of horse riding, do animals have histories, and Coetzee’s animal ethics.
  • The Oxford University Animal Ethics Society continues to thrive and to be a wonderful forum for the discussion of the moral status of animals within the University. We’ve had some great presentations this year on Edgar Allan Poe’s “Hopfrog,” the moral capacities of animals, and animal ethics and eco-feminism, to name a few.
  • The Palgrave Macmillan Book Series on Animal Ethicscontinues to thrive with 50 books – the premier book series on animal ethics. Books published during 2022 include:
  • Clair was delighted to return to the University of St Andrews to preach on Animal Welfare Sunday. She advocated a return to the plant-based diet envisioned in Genesis for the sake of the animals and the planet. Her sermon is available on our website, and you can watch the whole service on YouTube.

All these projects are costly as you might imagine. But we believe they are vital to help change the way people think about animals. If you think you might be able to spare a little to support our work, we would be truly grateful.

To make a donation to support our work, see here.

We are only too aware that the continuance of the Centre depends upon your support and generosity. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We wish you a joyful Christmas.

Andrew and Clair