Animals are increasingly used in animal-assisted activities, service animal programs and animal-assisted therapies. On the face of it, such uses may seem meritorious, given the benefits that may accrue to the human companions of these animals. But what of the animals themselves? Dig a little deeper, and this issue becomes a lot more morally problematic than is apparent at first glance. My short review of this issue was published in a six volume encyclopedia of bioethics (Bioethics 4th Edn., Macmillan Reference).