Talking Animals Creators & Guests

Pattrice Jones is a co-founder of VINE Sanctuary, an LGBTQ-led farmed animal refuge that works for social and environmental justice as well as animal liberation. A former tenant organizer and antiracist educator with more than forty years of activist experience, pattrice has taught college and university courses in the theory and praxis of social change activism. As an ecofeminist scholar, pattrice lectures and publishes worldwide on the interconnections among human, animal, and ecological matters. You can also find VINE on Facebook and Twitter.

Dr. David M. Peña-Guzmán is a philospher. His areas of interest are animal studies, theories of consciousness, the history and philosophy of science, and contemporary European philosophy. Currently, he is Associate Professor of Humanities at San Francisco State University. He is also cohost of the podcast "Overthink."Peña-Guzmán's papers have appeared in Foucault Studies, The Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy, and Hypatia. He is a co-author of "Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief," which was published in 2019. His first book, "When Animals Dream," was published in 2022.Peña-Guzmán received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Emory University.

Professor of philosophy and religions at MSU-Billings. Philosopher-activist working on behalf of nonhuman animals, the environment, & disempowered human beings.

Eleanor Spicer Rice is an entomologist and author.

Karen is an American animal rights advocate, and president of United Poultry Concerns, a non-profit organization founded in 1990 to address the treatment of domestic fowl – including chickens, turkeys, and ducks – in factory farming.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is an American author, speaker, cultural commentator and podcaster. Patrick-Goudreau advocates veganism as a means by which to prevent cruelty to animals.

Dr. Lori Marino is a neuroscientist and expert in animal behavior and intelligence. She is the founder and executive director of The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy and President of the Whale Sanctuary Project.Previously, Marino was a senior lecturer at Emory University for 20 years and faculty affiliate at the Emory Center for Ethics.Marino received her B.A. in Physiological Psychology from New York University, her M.A. in Experimental Psychology from Miami University, and her Ph.D. in Biological Psychology from SUNY University at Albany.

Author and researcher in dog cognition

Arin is an author and journalist.

Jane Velez-Mitchell is a television and social media journalist and author with specialities in vegan lifestyles, animal rights, addiction, and social justice.

Jo-Anne McArthur (born December 23, 1976) is a Canadian photojournalist, humane educator, animal rights activist and author. She is known for her We Animals project, a photography project documenting human relationships with animals. Through the We Animals Humane Education program, McArthur offers presentations about human relationships with animals in educational and other environments, and through the We Animals Archive, she provides photographs and other media for those working to help animals. We Animals Media, meanwhile, is a media agency focused on human/animal relationships.McArthur was the primary subject of the 2013 documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine, directed by Liz Marshall, and with Keri Cronin, she is the founder of the Unbound Project, which aims to celebrate and recognize female animal activists. Her first book, We Animals, was published in 2013; her second, Captive, was published in 2017; and a third, Hidden: Animals in the Anthropocene, which was co-authored with the journalist Keith Wilson, was published in 2020. McArthur has been awarded a range of commendations for her photography and activism, including several commendations in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards and joint first place in the COP26 photography competition.