Everything here is a working draft. This is a new research and advocacy topic, not yet started as a full thread.

Tags: animals, animal welfare, animal consciousness, animal rights, advocacy, philosophy

Scope

We're adding animals as a philosophy research and advocacy topic. It covers:

• Animal consciousness: what animals experience, and what that means for how we treat them.
• Animal welfare: making sure animals are okay, and the systems that help them.
• Animal rights: advocacy for animals as part of the foundation's work.
• Charities and partners: organizations the foundation promotes for animals.

The Director trains his own service animals, and animal training is one of the foundation's threads of work as part of animal welfare.

Related pages

• Service animals (in the Openness story): Developing Story: Openness, Stigma, and the Cost of Being Transparent — see the "Service animals (Oct 26, 2026)" section
• Animal rescue thread: charities, scratchers, dog training
• Community Projects & Local Partners
• Animal-shelter supply drive
• Animal care for street neighbors' pets

Charities and local partners

These already appear in our Community Projects & Local Partners page:

• Concern for Animals
• Joint Animal Services (Thurston County)
• Covenant Creatures