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The Science of Animal Sentience

“Though the fact of animal sentience is implicit in experimentation, researchers have traditionally downplayed and ignored certain aspects of it, and in nonvertebrate species they have often denied it altogether. While it is established that vertebrate animals feel pain and respond to pain drugs in much the same ways that humans do, emotions such as joy, happiness, suffering, empathy, and fear have often been ignored, despite the fact that many psychological and behavioral experiments are predicated on the assumption that animals feel these emotions and will consistently react based on these feelings. The evidence for animal sentience is overwhelming, yet denial of the emotional states of animals still occurs in the research community.”

—Ingrid L. Taylor, D.V.M.

To learn more, read PETA’s report “Animal Sentience and Emotions: The Argument for Universal Acceptance” and watch the webinar series “Invertebrate Animal Sentience,” part 1 and part 2, hosted by WellBeing International.

Relevant Publications

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