Beneath the Surface

While a predisposition toward optimism is by no means a prerequisite for involvement in the animal welfare movement, we can all agree that these are auspicious times for the cause. The last ten years have brought enormous change to the way western society thinks about and engages with species other than our own. Vegetarianism and veganism are wholly mainstream, science journals regularly trumpet the cognitive accomplishments of parrots and rats, trophy hunters post photos online at their peril, and a steady drip of damning evidence against factory farming continues to seep into the cultural water table. Last year, the National Institutes of Health finally retired the last of its chimpanzees to sanctuaries, effectively ending the practice of invasive research on great apes worldwide. And a few months earlier, a chimp named Tommy filed suit against his owner in New York State Court.

Meanwhile, interdisciplinary collaborations such as the Great Ape Project, the...