Before this year ends, we want to write a few lines to remember someone who left us in 2019 and who carried out pioneering work in the field of the moral consideration of animals, Priscilla Cohn. Cohn who was Emerita Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. Her work focused on the defense of wild animals, a topic with which much of Animal Ethics’s work deals too. Twenty years ago, she edited the book Ethics and wildlife, which included contributions by leading contemporary authors.
In addition to her work as an academic, she spent much of her time campaigning for animals. One activity in particular where she invested much effort and resources is the development of contraception for wild animals. This is something that can prevent a great deal of animal suffering caused either by human action or natural reasons. She co-authored this paper presenting the progress made in the field in the past few decades: “History of the science of wildlife fertility control”
We want to thank Priscilla Cohn for her pioneering work at a time when the moral consideration of animals, especially those living in the wild, received significantly less attention than today.