Sentientism 148: "Vegan pets... They're enjoying their lives more & they're living longer" - Dr. Andrew Knight - Professor and Dog & Cat Vet - Sentientism
Andrew is Professor of Animal Welfare & Ethics & Founding Director of the University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare. He also holds many other academic and veterinary positions.
Ever since helping launch Australia’s campaign against the live sheep trade to the Middle East in the early 1990s, he has advocated on behalf of animals. For nearly a decade prior to 2012 he practiced veterinary medicine, mostly around London. In 2013 – 2014 he directed the Clinical Skills Laboratory and taught animal ethics, welfare, veterinary practice management and surgical and medical skills at one of the world’s largest veterinary schools in the Caribbean.
Andrew's books include The Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare (2023) and The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments (2011). He has published widely for both public and academic audiences including papers in New Scientist, the British Medical Journal USA and PLoS One. Andrew has been honoured with 14 awards for his research, his advocacy and for his teaching.
sustainablepetfood.info - includes details of all the research discussed.
In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “who matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
01:33 Andrew's Intro
03:57 What's Real?
- Questioning his life after being unlucky in love
- Following the tradition of "gurus going to mountain tops"... hiking up a mountain & fasting
- A beautiful mountain view at dawn... "Please god - if there's anything out there - let me know now!"
- "The sun came up... I got my answer clear as day... there was absolutely nothing... I had to go back down the mountain... carry on and do the best I could... without any advice or clues from above... that's been my guiding inspiration since... what are we going to do with this opportunity?..."
- "I was very pleased because I could finally eat some food" :)
- Australia's secularism
- Veterinary education focused on science & evidence.
11:11 What Matters?
- "Try to do the most good you can and the least harm that you can."... without letting that turn you into a grim and uninspiring person
- Enjoying your life & not burning out (tough for caring professions & activists)
- "Don't forget to look after ourselves"
- "That's why it's [doing good, avoiding harm] such a good baseline principle... It's a simple clear message... something we can all aspire to"
15:32 Who Matters?
29:46 How Can We Make a Better Future?
...and much more. Full show notes at Sentientism.info.
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