Animal rights advocates
The purpose of this list is to compile the names of people who are genuinely dedicated to helping animals across various fields. It is not a shallow collection of actors and actresses who once petted a dog and declared themselves animal lovers, nor of those who made a one-minute video for PETA on YouTube. Nor is it a list of celebrities who simply identify as vegan—that's a different matter. Only those who truly care about animals are included: animal advocates, animal rights activists, and animal liberationists.
My descriptions of individual personalities include only information related to their activism, in line with the theme of the list (visible only if 'detailed view' is selected). I am adding them gradually.
My descriptions of individual personalities include only information related to their activism, in line with the theme of the list (visible only if 'detailed view' is selected). I am adding them gradually.
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Pete Singer is a pioneer animal rights philosopher.
Along with Tom Regan, Singer helped assemble and lead the first animal rights and animal liberation movements of the 1960s.
His novel Animal Liberation is considered a monumental, ground-breaking piece of philosophical literature. Animal Rights caused a watershed reaction by pushing the animal rights movement into the political forefront for the first time.
Armed with a doctorate in philosophy, Singer theorized that animals are victims of speciest discrimination. This simple principle cannot be rebuked philosophically, morally, ethically, or logically, and as such, has remained the dominant logical explanation in defense of animal rights.
Singer has also philosophized on behalf of Darwinism, Evolutionary Biology, and Zoophilia.- Writer
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Cleveland Amory was born on 2 September 1917 in Nahant, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for O.K. Crackerby! (1965), The Philco Television Playhouse (1948) and Robert Montgomery Presents (1950). He was married to Martha Hodge and Cora Fields Craddock. He died on 14 October 1998 in New York City, New York, USA.- Producer
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Marc Bekoff was born on 6 September 1945 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is known for Natural World (1983), The Power of Play (2002) and Fixing Fido.- Actress
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After her school education, she initially attended a school for secretaries, but in 1957, at the invitation of a former schoolmate, she realized her long-held dream of getting to know Africa and traveled to Kenya. She found a job at the Kenya National Museum and came into contact with its director Louis Leakey. Although Goodall had no academic training at the time, Leakey suggested that she participate in a field study of wild chimpanzees. She then began working as an assistant for Leakey. In 1960, Goodall, accompanied by her mother, traveled to Lake Tanganyika in what is now Gombe National Park. There she began researching primates, which are genetically closely related to humans. Through her "participatory observation method" she was able to gain new insights into the animals. Goodall discovered that chimpanzees make and use tools. Their work also helped to differentiate bonobos from chimpanzees.
In 1965, the researcher temporarily interrupted her studies to do her doctorate at the University of Cambridge. She received an exemption and was therefore able to do a doctorate even though she had never studied. As Dr. Jane Goodall returned to Tanzania, where she founded the "Gombe Stream Research Center" in Gombe in 1967. With funding from the American National Geographic Society, the first texts and images from her studies appeared. Goodall gained worldwide fame with the publication of her book "Wild Chimpanzees". From 1971 to 1975 she taught as a visiting professor at Stanford University in California. In 1977, the researcher founded the "Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation" in the USA to ensure the protection of the chimpanzees in Gombe and her research activities. In 1987 Goodall retired from field research. Since then she has been committed to protecting chimpanzees.
As an "ambassador for chimpanzees" she travels around the world, giving lectures on environmental pollution and climate change. She also campaigns against the illegal animal trade. Goodall also coordinates various scientific projects carried out in Gombe. In her published autobiography "Reason for Hope" she writes about the motives of her work and the leitmotif of her life. For Jane Goodall, there seems to be no contradiction between belief in God and the Darwinian theory of evolution. Goodall has since moved back to England, to her childhood home. In 2002 she was appointed UN Messenger of Peace. Jane Goodall is also committed to environmental projects with young people, for which purpose she launched the "Roots & Shoots" project. In 2005 she became an officer of the French Legion of Honor. In 2018, the documentary "Jane" by American director Brett Morgan was released in cinemas. In 2020 she received the Tang Prize in the "Sustainable Development" category.- Director
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Ingrid Newkirk was born on 11 June 1949 in England, UK. She is a director and writer, known for Valerie X, I Am an Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA (2007) and Unnecessary Fuss (1984).- J.M. Coetzee was born on 9 February 1940 in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a writer, known for Waiting for the Barbarians (2019), Dust (1985) and Disgrace (2008).
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Paul Watson was born on 2 December 1950 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for The Seacrets, Paul Whitehouse: Our Troubled Rivers (2023) and END:CIV (2011). He has been married to Yana Rusinovich since 14 February 2015. They have two children. He was previously married to Allison Lance, Lisa Ann DiStefano and Starlet Melody Lum.He has been an environmental activist since his teens. In 1969, he joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing and became involved in the early years of Greenpeace. He also worked with several organizations, including serving as a field correspondent for Defenders of Wildlife (1976–1980) and as a field representative for the Fund for Animals (1978–1981). In the 1980s and 1990s, he supported Earth First! and worked with the Green Party of British Columbia.
His advocacy for direct action conflicted with Greenpeace’s nonviolence stance, leading to his removal from the board in 1977. That same year, he founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which he led until 2022, when he co-founded the Captain Paul Watson Foundation. Both organizations employ direct action tactics, such as deploying ships to track, report, and disrupt illegal fishing and whaling activities. These methods have included ramming vessels, sabotaging equipment, using water cannons and stink bombs, and even sinking driftnets and illegal whaling ships. His activism has led to numerous legal disputes, arrests, and convictions.
Watson promotes veganism, a biocentric worldview, and opposes anthropocentrism. He also warns about overpopulation. In 2007, he explained his views on the need for population control and the future of humanity, given its role in the Holocene extinction: "Today, escalating human populations have vastly exceeded global carrying capacity and now produce massive quantities of solid, liquid, and gaseous waste [...] No human community should be larger than 20,000 people and separated from other communities by wilderness areas [...] We need to radically and intelligently reduce human populations to fewer than one billion [...] Curing a body of cancer requires radical and invasive therapy, and therefore, curing the biosphere of the human virus will also require a radical and invasive approach [...] Who should have children? Those who are responsible and completely dedicated to the responsibility which is actually a very small percentage of humans."
