Animal Ethics
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The Animal Ethics study group at the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics meets several times a semester over a vegan lunch (or via Zoom) for a presentation and lively discussion about a current issue in animal ethics. Our presenters come from diverse fields including law, conservation biology, anthropology, history, veterinary medicine, agricultural research, psychology, philosophy, and genomic/genetic research science. Often, the presenters bring works in progress or new publications to share with us. Participants are equally as diverse and come from both the Yale community and beyond, with many coming from other professional fields.
We share a common interest in learning about the factual underpinnings of contemporary animal issues directly from scholars in the fields. The group’s diversity adds to the richness of the discussions and captures divergent points of view in civil, but enthusiastic debates. The study group sponsors two events: a lunch time seminar and a public lecture series around related animal ethics issues. If you are interested in more in-depth studies of animal ethics, the Summer Institute in Bioethics often offers a 3-week intensive seminar on Animal Ethics & One Health as part of our summer program.
Chair
Lisa Moses, VMD, DACVIM, Faculty, Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School
Contact Us
For more information or to be placed on the email list for upcoming study group meetings, email lisa.moses@yale.edu.
2025-2026 Lecture Series
Please join us for these Zoom-based lectures, open to the public. Email lisa.moses@yale.edu to register.
October 15, 2025 at 12 noon ET, on Zoom: Larry Carbone, DVM, PhD
”What’s sentience got to do with it? The conflicted place of sentience in lab animal welfare policy”
Sentience is often the necessary entry ticket for animals’ moral and legal protections, heralding legal protections for lobsters, fish and others. In this session, I review the challenges of assigning a hierarchy of sentience to animals, and the many cases in which other considerations, from cuteness to intelligence to evolution, override sentience, favoring certain animals over equally sentient others.
Larry Carbone is a veterinarian with a lifetime career focus on welfare protections for animals in laboratories. He is a product of Cornell University, in evolutionary biology (BA), veterinary medicine (DVM) and history of science/veterinary ethics (MA; PhD). He is a diplomate in two veterinary specialties: the American College of Animal Welfare and the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. He has practiced laboratory animal medicine at Cornell University and at the University of California San Francisco, where he established the campus Animal Welfare Assurance Program. He has retired from veterinary practice and now lives in Valencia, Spain.
November 14, 2025 at 12 noon ET, on Zoom: Christina Warner, Barrister, London, UK
Ruby’s Law: Protecting Animals in the Context of Domestic Abuse
This talk will explore the intersection of family law, domestic abuse, and animal welfare, drawing on the pioneering Ruby’s Law campaign. The campaign seeks legislative reform in the family courts to ensure pets are legally recognised as victims in domestic abuse cases, strengthening protective measures for both humans and animals. The research, advocacy, and legal strategies underpinning the campaign, as well as its broader implications for safeguarding vulnerable families will be discussed.
Christina Warner is an award-winning barrister and human rights & animal protection specialist. Her practice focuses on domestic abuse and child protection, with a particular interest in cases involving the intersection of family law and animal welfare. She is the founder of Ruby’s Law (2025), a pioneering campaign advocating for reforms to explicitly protect pets in domestic abuse proceedings and ensure their interests are meaningfully represented in the courts.