Recent News

By 2024, 10 scientific studies had demonstrated good health outcomes in dogs fed vegan or vegetarian diets, and the British Veterinary Association had endorsed nutritionally-sound vegan dog diets....

A response to a recent study by Daina et al. (2023) asserting nutritional inadequacies in vegan pet diets based on the analysis of only three specific diets — a sample insufficient to draw the...

Control methods are applied worldwide to reduce predation on livestock by European red foxes. Lethal methods are intended to kill foxes and can inflict suffering. Non-lethal methods can also inflict...

A major scientific study by Emily Davies and I has just vindicated the position of celebrity naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham, who claimed in the High Court in 2023 that circus environments...

In January I was honoured to receive a PhD on vegan pet food (health, behavioural and sustainability implications). This was based on my studies in this field, and was my second PhD. My first...

Chickens may be the third most common pet in many countries; however, little is known about their welfare or the human–chicken relationship. Hence, using 2,000+ questionnaire responses, this study...

On 15th November, I was profoundly honoured to be awarded Murdoch University's Distinguished Alumnus Award, along with five others. There have been 38 previous recipients. Murdoch has over 100,000...

Most new and emerging human diseases come from animal populations, and among these, viruses - especially influenza viruses - are the most dangerous. Viral transmission and mortality can be very...

Our new textbook, the 2023 Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare, which is freely available online, has now surpassed 100,000 chapter downloads! And the complete textbook has been downloaded around...

Our major new study on climate change solutions has just been published in leading open access scientific journal Heliyon. Our planet is in a state of emergency and we only have a short window of...

This chapter in The Encyclopedia of Animal Nutrition briefly summarised the scientific evidence concerning health outcomes in dogs and cats fed vegan pet food, published by 2023.   Knight...

This technical letter, published in a leading UK veterinary journal, summarised the evidence extant by Oct. 2023, about health outcomes of cats on vegan vs meat-based diets. Three studies had shown...

What would the environmental benefits be, if the world’s dogs, cats and people all consumed vegan diets, and how many additional people or pets could be fed with the food energy saved? How much...

Cell-based seafood is produced by taking cells from live aquatic animals and cultivating them in appropriate growth media within bioreactors. Resultant products have identical DNA and tissue and...

Vegan dog food is less damaging to the environment, and to the welfare of animals processed into pet foods. But – are vegan diets good for cats? To test this, we collected data on 1,396 cats fed a...

Various studies have assessed animal welfare by analysing how behaviour is affected by environmental and human-related factors. Nevertheless, the combined effects of these factors are poorly...

Over 70 billion chickens are slaughtered globally each year. Almost all are meat breeds, typically housed in very large barns with a litter floor. Recently however, modern cage systems have been...

New Scientist has just published a feature article on vegan pet food:    The 5 pp feature article extensively covers vegan pet food research by colleagues and myself. The article also...

Our University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare Activity Report 2021 - 2022 is now published.    The 2020 - 2021 academic year was a time of much growth and change for the Centre...

Our new Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare launched on 25th Aug. 2022 in London. See pics and info.   Informed by recent advances in animal behavioural and cognitive science, new...

Our chapter on educational animal use, with a focus on veterinary education, has just been published in the new veterinary ethics textbook below:   Knight and, A. and Zemanova, M.A....

This technical letter, published in a leading UK veterinary journal, summarised the evidence extant by May 2022, about health outcomes of dogs on vegan vs meat-based diets. Four studies showed...

Vegan dog food is less damaging to the environment, and to the welfare of animals processed into pet foods. But – are vegan diets good for dogs? To test this, we collected data on 2,536 dogs fed a...

Describes the development of a new screencast-based flipped classroom in our distance learning Master of Science (MSc) degree in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law at the University of...

The forced swim test (FST) is a controversial rodent test that has been used for decades, mainly in depression studies. The severity of the procedure makes it ethically questionable and its validity...

Some claim vegan pet food may be less palatable, or may compromise animal welfare. But are such claims actually true? In 2020 we surveyed dog or cat guardians asking about behaviours displayed by...

Plant-based pet foods are rapidly developing, driven by distrust of conventional pet foods, and concerns about their impacts on pets, farmed animals, and the environment. But are plant-based pet...

With Dr Miriam Zemanova and Susanna Lybæk I’ve just published a systematic review of European educational animal use. From 2017 – 2019, 124,000 – 172,000 animals were used annually, in 26 EU member...

The New Zealand Animal Law Association is concerned that the welfare needs of farmed animals in New Zealand are not being met. We’ve just released a report on this topic, with a particular focus on...

With the assistance of Dr Steven McCulloch and myself, our recent MSc Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law graduate Shannon Rivera has just successfully published her MSc dissertation work in...

I’ve created and published our 2020 University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare Activity Report.   Covid-19 obviously had a major impact on all of us in 2020. Nevertheless, our...

With Dr Miriam Zemanova, I’ve just published a systematic review of 50 studies comparing student learning outcomes, when animals are harmed or humane alternatives are used, in life and health...

The disheartening first half of 2020 was definitely far from what any of us were hoping for. Yet, it would be dishonest to say that what we are facing right now is something completely unexpected....

A New Zealand High Court judge has just ruled that the government’s legalisation of extremely restrictive cages (‘farrowing crates’) for pregnant sows – the main confinement system used for more...

With Open Cages and Prof. Emeritus David Wiebers, I’ve just published a detailed report examining welfare problems and disease risks created by intensive meat chicken farming, including the risks of...

I’m very honoured to have been Appointed Adjunct Professor in the School of Environment and Science at Griffith University, Queensland.   Griffith is a research-intensive university,...

I’m deeply honoured to have been named Griffith University Science Group’s Outstanding Alumnus for 2020.   I received my PhD from Griffith in 2010, for a thesis critiquing invasive...

My PhD student Constanca Carvalho, colleagues and I have published a new study examining the contribution of animal, in vitro and in silico studies to current knowledge of Major Depressive Disorder,...

My PhD student Constanca Carvalho, colleagues and I have published a new study examining the contribution of rat studies to current knowledge of Major Depressive Disorder, via citation analysis....

Seventy seven scientists and academics, along with Animal Free Research UK, Safer Medicines Trust and the Alliance for Human Relevant Science, have published an open letter in The Guardian today, to...

I’ve published an article reviewing animal welfare concerns in New Zealand. Most of these concerns apply to farmed animals, and animal welfare legislation, internationally. ...

I’m deeply honoured to have received a Principal Fellowship from Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy), joining just over 1,000 academics who have received this worldwide, including...

Surprisingly little is known about how meat-based, plant-based or other types of pet food affect the health of cats and dogs, and about which diets they prefer. And so I’ve launched a new study to...

I’ve created and published our 2019 University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare Activity Report.   

In the UK general election, I was the Animal Welfare Party candidate in New Forest East. I won won 675 votes or 1.3% – our best general election result so far. Given that we had almost zero...

I was deeply honoured to receive the 2019 HSVMA Humane Achievement Award, from Claire Bass, CEO of Humane Society International, in London.    

In March, with Jasmijn de Boo I published The Green Protein Report: Meeting New Zealand’s Climate Change Targets by 2030 Through Reduced Reliance on Animal Agriculture. We’re grateful to multiple...

With my PhD student Constanca Carvalho and others, I co-authored ‘The relevance of in silico, in vitro and non-human primate based approaches to clinical research on major depressive disorder’, in...

I was deeply honoured to receive the University of Winchester Values Award, for my work advancing animal welfare education and knowledge.    

The Spanish translation of my 2018 report Uncaging New Zealand’s Sows: Scrutinising Farrowing Crates has been provided by some wonderful volunteers and is now available. ...

Our ground-breaking book: Herrmann K and Jayne K. (2019). Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change has just been published. It is 100% open access (i.e. free to access)! ...

I was deeply honoured to receive the Shomer Award 2019, from the (US) Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics, at VMX 2019: Veterinary Meeting and Expo. Orlando, FL, US.    This prestigious...

I’ve created and launched the University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare YouTube channel.   This provides short videos about a wide range of animal welfare issues (for our intranet...

With three University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare colleagues, I’ve just released a series of 29 short YouTube videos, that provide 5-10 minute summaries of key animal welfare concerns...

With my PhD student Constanca Carvalho and others, I co-authored ‘Ethical and scientific pitfalls concerning laboratory research with non-human primates, and possible solutions‘, in Animals. ...

With Prof. Philip Lymbery and others, I co-authored ‘Governments should unite to curb meat consumption‘ in Nature.   

My report Injuries in Racing Greyhounds was published by Greyt Exploitations, and I was invited to present it at an APDAWG meeting, Westminster. This went extremely well. ...

My article ‘Vegan diets for companion animals‘ in The Mail on Sunday reached around 1.2 million people!   

My YouTube channel has undergone a major makeover. All of my videos on animal issues can now be easily found there organised into playlists.   Please consider sharing any you think...

My 13,000 word report Uncaging New Zealand’s Sows: Scrutinising Farrowing Crates was published in June by SAFE (a leading NZ animal advocacy organisation). It documents the welfare problems...

Is it really necessary to harm animals to learn veterinary surgical and clinical skills, as still continues in some veterinary schools? Absolutely not! In our new article, Prof. Grevemeyer and I...

Ever wondered how to safely veganise your cat or dog? Or why on Earth you might want to? Read the answers in Green for Life!