Words Count: Animal Lovers Ask AP to Stop Calling Animals "It"

Animals are not things. They are living, breathing, thinking, feeling beings. That's why In Defense of Animals and Animals & Media are calling for an update to the Associated Press Stylebook's recommendation on the use of personal pronouns for nonhuman animals. They are joined by more than 80 respected leaders and scholars in animal advocacy and conservation who support this change, including renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, biologists Dr. Marc Bekoff and Dr. Jonathan Balcombe, and leaders of organizations such as Center for Biological Diversity, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Mercy For Animals, Encompass, Animals & Society Institute, Animal Outlook, Nonhuman Rights Project, Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School, JaneUnChained News and other media organizations, such as Sentient Media, We Animals Media, the Journal of Critical Animal Studies and Animal Sentience journal. The scientific consensus is that nonhuman animals are conscious beings — someone not something — and the language we use should reflect that. Here to talk about it with JaneUnChained.com's Jane Velez-Mitchell is IDA' s Alicia Graef.