Making De-Extinction Extinct

De-extinction is the process through which extinct species can be brought back into existence through various scientific methods. As science continues to advance rapidly de-extinction has become ever more the focus of debate and attention. Candidate species are the dodo, passenger pigeon, thylacine, wooly mammoth and, even more far-reaching, dinosaurs. While some scientists and others are giddy with excitement over this possibility, others are cautious about the potential pitfalls of bringing back animals for whom there is no veterinary expertise, who have no current natural habitat, and could even lead to the exploitation of highly endangered species who already need help.

In this webinar we explore de-extinction from the animal welfare point of view. Taking our lead from the fraught ethical issues associated with ongoing highly invasive research with sentient animals we conclude that there is little if any justification for de-extinction other than scientific curiosity. We explore ways the law and other societal guardrails can proscribe the continued use of animals for de-extinction purposes.

Speakers:

• Heather Browning, Uninversity of Southampton
• Grant Wilson, Esq., Earth Law Center
• Lori Marino, The Kimmela Center
• (moderator) Kathy Hessler, GW Law

Speakers

Heather Browning is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton. She specialises in animal welfare, sentience, and ethics and has written on the animal welfare concerns of de-extinction projects. Prior to her current position, she worked as a researcher in animal sentience and welfare at the London School of Economics, as part of the Foundations of Animal Sentience project. Alongside her academic career, Browning has also worked as a zookeeper and animal welfare officer. Her book What Are Zoos For? (coauthored with Walter Veit) was published in 2024.

Grant Wilson, Esq., is the Executive Director of Earth Law Center. For the last twelve years, he has defended the rights and interests of Nature all over the world, including by co-drafting legal instruments recognizing the rights of nature. He is a co-lead editor of the seminal Earth Law textbook, Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law—A Guide for Practitioners (Aspen, 2021). He is also a member of the World Commission on Environmental Law and the UN Harmony with Nature Initiative. Grant earned a J.D. with a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law from Lewis & Clark Law School. 

Lori Marino is a neuroscientist who has studied animal behavior and intelligence for thirty years and was on the faculty of Emory University. She is Founder and Executive Director of The Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy and President of the Whale Sanctuary Project. Lori is internationally known for her work on the evolution of the brain and intelligence in dolphins and whales (as well as primates and farmed animals). She has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers, book chapters, and magazine articles on comparative brain anatomy and cognition, self-awareness in nonhuman animals, human-nonhuman animal relationships, and the evolution of intelligence. Lori also has interests in bioethics and animal law and policy, and, in particular, in the intersection of science and law.

Moderator

Kathy Hessler is the inaugural Assistant Dean for Animal Legal Education at George Washington University Law School (GWU), and Director of the Animal Legal Education Initiative (ALEI), working with Joan Schaffner and Iselin Gambert, in a program made possible by generous support from ALDF.

Dean Hessler has been a clinical law professor for 30 years and has been teaching animal law for 22 years. She is the first law professor hired to teach animal law full-time. She received her JD from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary and her LLM from Georgetown University Law Center.