Rethinking Animal Sentience
🌿 What Is Animal Sentience?
Animal sentience means animals have the ability to feel, sense, and experience the world in their own way. Being sentient isn’t just about reacting automatically—it means they can feel pain or joy, sense fear or hope, and make choices based on what matters to them. In other words, they have an inner life all their own.
For a long time, only certain animals—like dogs, primates, and dolphins—were recognized as sentient. But research now shows that many more species experience emotions and awareness:
🐷 Pigs can play, dream, and form strong social bonds.
🐙 Octopuses solve puzzles and show curiosity.
🐟 Fish learn, remember, and feel pain.
🐝 Even insects may show emotional states and decision-making.
Recognizing sentience shifts the conversation—from what animals can do for us to what they need from us. It’s the foundation for treating animals with compassion, dignity, and respect.
Sentience is the science behind empathy—and the reason every life deserves kindness.
The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness
Do Insects Have an Inner Life? Animal Consciousness Needs a Rethink | Scientific American