Joe Wills

It's good to be on a platform where people express normal human empathy and dismay at the horrific synagogue attack rather than on one where they weaponise it for their grubby, divisive purposes and try to turn a tragedy into an opportunity

Jane Goodall’s most radical message was not about saving the planet The conservationist used her stature to advocate for one of the most important, yet most unpopular, causes in the world.

Goodall was such an icon because she did & said things that were heresy in the scientific community. Her work on animals' capacities represented not just an abstract finding but a practical ethic that led her to advocate for veganism &vocally oppose animal experimentation
www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Third Cranswick pig farm faces animal abuse allegations Animal Justice Project filmed employees at Mere Farm, Barton upon Humber, North Lincolnshire.

“The behaviour depicted is wholly unacceptable & clearly breaches the values, standards & animal welfare practices that we uphold across our business.“ - would be more convincing if this wasn‘t the third time they‘ve been exposed *since May*. The cruelty is systemic.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This video really shows that the ontological divide we perceive between humans and the other animals is an illusion, the product of prescientific superstition and prejudice and supremacy. As Darwin put it, the other animals differ from humans in degree rather than kind.

YouTube video by Chuck Brown Jane Goodall Releases Chimp

Anybody who watches this video and doesn’t shed a tear has a heart of stone:

youtu.be/bCVmfDuRpBc?...

"I stopped eating meat some 50 years ago," wrote Jane Goodall, "when I looked at the pork chop on my plate and thought: this represents fear, pain, death."

Best as I can tell, not one obituary or article on her passing mentions this fact. It's worth knowing. news.janegoodall.org/2017/04/28/w...

YouTube video by Chuck Brown Jane Goodall Releases Chimp

RIP to Jane Goodall whose pioneering work in primatology led to a paradigm shift in how we understand animals. Her work on animal subjectivity, emotions and relationships was intially dismissed as ‘anthropomorphic’ by the male-dominated field but now has widespread support. youtu.be/bCVmfDuRpBc?...

This is great. It naturally follows that Musk can only get out of our politics if politicians and political journalists stop using the social media site he controls.

If only Goodwin was simply a 'madman' though. The truth is more sinister, he knows exactly what he's doing.

A groundbreaking legal victory has just seen 6 people found not guilty of public nuisance, after disrupting the Grand National horse race in 2023! #grandnational #protest

Granting Rights to Animals Doesn't Undermine Human Rights In proposing the Species Membership Approach, Raffael Fasel argues against the misplaced fears that granting legal rights and personhood to nonhumans would weaken human rights.

In the interview, Raffael discusses his book More Equal Than Others: Humans and the Rights of Other Animals? (2024). 📙

Read the interview here:
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anim...

Want to check out the book? Go to global.oup.com/academic/pro... (2/2)

#AnimalRightsLaw #PsychologyToday

Using wonder to achieve animal rights In this post, Steve Cooke, (University of Leicester) discusses his article recently published in the Journal of Applied Philosophy on the experience of wonder as a route towards justice for nonhuma…

Hey, look! A piece on the connection between wonder, moral motivation, & justice for animals, published at @justiceeverywhere.bsky.social and based on my paper in @the-joap.bsky.social - justice-everywhere.org/general/usin...

Do Reptiles Have Moods, Too?

People who know reptiles well say they don't only experience fleeting pains and pleasures, but also lasting emotional states: happiness & sadness, or at least good & bad moods.

But how do you show this in a scientific way?

My latest for @nytimes.com on a clever @coldbloodedcog.bsky.social study:

Latsis Prize 2025 for Saskia Stucki The researcher Saskia Stucki from ZHAW wins the Latsis Swiss Science Prize 2025. She is laying the foundations for recognising animal rights.

Saskia Stucki, a researcher and senior lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences has won the Latsis Swiss Science Prize 2025 for her scholarship laying the theoretical foundations for recognising animal rights in law. Huge congratulations to Saskia!

www.snf.ch/en/CUcsljTmj...

How can anyone - especially non-fascist politicians - justify continuing to use Musk’s platform? In the UK we already saw its role in fomenting the racist riots of last year. This should be the final straw. Serious legal action needs to be taken against the platform.

Here is a lessor known one of Gearty’s works. A lecture from 2009 arguing that nonhuman animals should have human rights too: ukhumanrightsblog.com/wp-content/u...

Very sad to hear of the passing of Conor Gearty. A brilliant legal scholar and a lovely man. His and Keith Ewing’s ‘The Struggle for Civil Liberties’ was one of the key texts that inspired me to go into academia.

Greyhound racing ban backed by Scottish government The agriculture minister said the government supported the general principles of Green MSP Mark Ruskell's bill.

The Scottish government are really at the forefront of animal welfare reform in the UK. In recent years they've banned snaring (as did Wales), trail hunting and now are backing a ban on greyhound racing too.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

2025.08.05 PR - Wayne appeal amici For immediate release Contact: press@aaldp.com Legal Scholars, Civil Liberties Groups File in Support of Animal Rights Activist’s Appeal Multiple Constitutional Violations Plagued Trial That Jailed...

Fascinating selection of amicus briefs supporting an appeal by US animal rights activist Wayne Hsiung.

Issues raised include whether the necessity defence applies to animals and whether anti-vegan animus from the prosecutor violates the 1st amendment:

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

To think that in 2025 such an obvious statement would need to be defended by a mainstream publication in the first place and then that they’re not just refuting fringe carnivore dieters but the actual US Health Secretary. The mind boggles.

When I first left the airport, I assumed there was a motorbike festival taking place! Since last December they've had a metro-line and instituted a free bus service so hopefully we'll see some congestion relief. It doesn't look as bad as when I was there in 2019!

Animal Rights, Moral Motivation, and the Experience of Wonder Despite being strong, arguments for animal rights often fail to motivate. One reason for this is that rights are associated with concepts, such as respect, that are difficult to apply to nonhuman ani...

My paper ‘Animal Rights, Moral Motivation, and the Experience of Wonder’ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... has just been published at @the-joap.bsky.social In it, I argue for fostering a sense of wonder at individual nonhuman animals, & for making this the basis of a reverence-based respect.

Woman filmed kicking and slapping horse cleared of animal cruelty Sarah Moulds, 39, says she received death threats and family went into hiding after video went viral

Sickening. It reminds me of this recent case from the UK in which a huntswoman who kicked and punched “her” horse was acquitted of causing unnecessary suffering www.theguardian.com/world/2023/a...

There’s almost no media coverage of this and apparently it’s fine to promote these views in the Republican Party now? Trump/Musk have made Nazism mainstream politics in the States now, that’s where we’re at?

Tomorrow's front page 📰

Convicted US felon to arrive in Scotland

The Omnivore’s Deception By John Sanbonmatsu — Review A brilliantly argued dismantling of Michael Pollan & other supporters of the meat economy who lie to the public by claiming that we can have our meat and our morals, too.

My book reviewed in @forbes.com.

"This is not only the best book I’ve read this year but it’s the best book I’ve ever read about the morality of ethical veganism and of animal rights. It is so compelling, so coherent, and so crammed full of relevant information...."

www.forbes.com/sites/grrlsc...

New Colombian Law Recognizes Pets as Part of the Family Colombia's new law protects pets from being seized in legal cases, recognizing them as family members and strengthening animal rights nationwide.

"Colombia has taken a major step forward in animal protection laws by declaring pets legally unseizable, even during legal or debt-related proceedings...

'They cannot be removed from their family environments due to court-ordered actions,' states the law." discoverbaq.com/new-colombia...

Building wrap of Jabaliya camp in Gaza opposite Labour Party HQ reads "Protesting this isn't terrorism"

🚨 RIGHT NOW opposite Labour Party HQ in London.

We’ve turned their street into Jabaliya camp in Gaza. A genocide is happening, but the Labour government is supplying weapons, intelligence and diplomatic cover to the perpetrator. Protesting this is not terrorism.

Landmark ruling says Spanish pig farm pollution breaches human rights The community looks forward to its reservoir becoming ‘a place of life again’, where residents can walk, swim and drink without fear.

I would like to see a legal order in which these farms are principally recognised as violating the rights of *pigs*, but until then, many more of these rulings please. www.euronews.com/green/2025/0...

Trump Is Suing to Overturn Prop 12 and Other Animal Welfare Laws The administration says animal welfare laws in California are raising egg prices nationwide.

The Trump admin has sued California to overturn a number of its animal welfare laws, alleging that these laws caused egg prices to skyrocket nationwide. Researchers say overturning Prop 12 might decrease prices slightly, but only in California. sentientmedia.org/trump-suing-...