Recent News

This is an article about sustainable food and public health   Wirnitzer KC, …, Knight A, et al (2025). Toward a roadmap for addressing today’s health dilemma—the 101-statement consensus...

This is an article about animal farming and climate change.   Mace, J.L.; Knight, A.; Vieira, F.; Tatemoto, P.; Gameiro, M (2025). The missing target: why industrialized animal farming...

This is an article in Vet Times about science and reason in the climate change debate.   Knight A (2025). Science and reason in climate change debate. Vet Times, 55(43), p....

This is an article about consumer acceptance of sustainable cat diets   Mace, J. L., Bauer, A., Knight, A., & Nicholles, B. (2025). Consumer acceptance of sustainable cat diets: a...

This is an article about consumer acceptance of sustainable dog diets   Mace, J. L., Bauer, A., Knight, A., & Nicholles, B. (2025). Consumer acceptance of sustainable dog diets: a...

This is an article in Vet Times about 'bogus and biased' vegan diets row    Meacock R (2025). ‘Bogus and biased’ – vegan diets row. Vet Times 2025 55(41), p. 27.

Extremely unexpectedly, I was awarded the Juliana von Wendt Foundation abstract award for my presentation: Vegan Versus Meat-based Dog Food: Health Outcomes in 2,536 Dogs. This was a profound...

This is an article about AI and animal advocacy   Mace J and Knight A (2025). AI model selection: an animal advocacy case study. Faunalytics.org, 03 Sep....

This is an article about pet food.   Mace J and Knight A (2025). The expanding market for ethical companion animal food. Faunalytics.org, 18 Jun....

Billy Nicholles and I considered the environmental impacts of vegan vs. meat-based pet foods, in a detailed study in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. We considered the meat- and plant-based...

Billy Nicholles and I considered the environmental impacts of vegan vs. meat-based pet foods, in a Plant-Based News article. This summarised our detailed study in Frontiers in Sustainable Food...

In Oxford Open Climate Change, we proposed that the pressing nature of irreversible climate change requires rethinking our food systems. Said the Editor, “This is a compelling piece of work, and I...

This article in The Conversation summarised the environmental benefits, food energy savings (additional people who could be fed) and number of ‘food’ animals who would be spared from slaughter...

In this article Billy Nicholles and I rebuted common critiques of vegan pet diets, notably by veterinary nurse Robyn Lowe of Veterinary Voices UK in her 2023 blog: Vegan diets are healthier and...

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....

This open access chapter within the 2024 book Regenerative Farming and Sustainable Diets edited by D’Silva and McKenna summarises the key results of my recent study on the sustainability of vegan...

Co-signed by 100 scientific and academic colleagues, this letter published in Science called on the US Congress to support the OCTOPUS Act of 2024 and ban commercial octopus farming and the...

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 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...

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...