Issue Biomedical Education Companion Animals Experimentation Farmed Animals Transportation Vegetarianism Wildlife    Expertise Accountancy Art/Design Education Fundraising Legal Managerial/Strategic Philosophy/Policy/Sociology Scientific Speaking Veterinary Writing    Consultants * All Consultants * Balcombe, Jonathan Bekoff, Marc Berriman, Eva Burnett, Cynthia Chemes, Jodi De Boo, Jasmijn Gabriel, Mary Jones, Dena Keith, Shannon Knight, Andrew Laidlaw, Rob Pomfrey, Vivien Stallwood, Kim Taylor, Nicola Webb, Maria         

Overview

I have been an active animal advocate ever since helping launch Australia’s campaign against the live sheep trade to the Middle East in the early 1990s. I obtained my veterinary degree in 2002 from Western Australia's AVMA (US)-accredited Murdoch University, primarily to provide specialized knowledge and skills for the assistance of animal protection campaigns. While a student, I ran a high-profile campaign for the introduction of humane alternatives to harmful animal use in education. In 1998 Murdoch became the first Australian university to formally allow conscientious objection by students to animal experimentation or other areas of their coursework. Several others within Australia and abroad have since followed suit. In 1999 I achieved the cancellation of almost all of Murdoch's terminal physiology teaching laboratories, in which large numbers of sheep, toads and other animals were killed annually. In 2000 a classmate and I pioneered Western Australia’s first alternative veterinary surgical program, jointly spaying or neutering 45 dogs and cats from animal shelters and private veterinary clinics, instead of killing pigs with our classmates in Murdoch's conventional 'terminal' surgical laboratories. Despite strong opposition and lack of faculty support the program was an outstanding success—we obtained five times the surgical and anaesthetic experience gained by our conventionally-trained peers.

I am presently based as a small animal veterinarian in London and have been employed by animal protection organizations since 2002. In 2004 I founded Animal Consultants International to facilitate increased effectiveness of the animal protection movement via international skill-sharing. In 2005 I completed a post-graduate Certificate in Animal Welfare Science through the Cambridge E-Learning Institute, UK, and passed the Californian and US veterinary licensing examinations, considered among the most difficult internationally. Since then I have published a series of scientific papers on animal experimentation, three of which received awards at international scientific conferences in 2005-2006, and I expect to complete a PhD critically examining the human utility of animal experimentation in 2008.

My primary animal protection interests are intensive farming, animal experimentation, the harmful use of animals in education and vegan companion animal diets. My primary veterinary interests lie in bioethics, animal welfare science, and canine and feline neutering programs. My long-term career goals focus on the promotion of veganism, because the consumption of eggs, meat, and milk, especially where animals are intensively farmed, remains  the greatest source of suffering worldwide, and a major cause of environmental destruction.

Selected scientific publications

My papers on animal issues have been published in leading scientific and medical journals, such as the British Medical Journal, and the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Selected examples include:

1.    Knight A. In defense of vegetarian cat food. J Amer Vet Medical Assoc 2005.

2.    Bailey J, Knight A, Balcombe J. The future of teratology research is in vitro. Biogenic Amines 2005.

3.    De Boo J, Knight A. ‘Concepts in Animal Welfare’: a syllabus in animal welfare science and ethics for veterinary schools. J Vet Medical Educ 2006. Summary in ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation 2006.

4.    Knight A, Bailey J, Balcombe J. Animal carcinogenicity studies: 1. poor human predictivity. ATLA: Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 2006. Summary in BMJ USA 2005 and ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation 2006.

5.    Knight A, Bailey J, Balcombe J. Animal carcinogenicity studies: 2. obstacles to extrapolation of data to humans. ATLA: Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 2006.

6.    Knight A, Bailey J, Balcombe J. Animal carcinogenicity studies: 3. alternatives to the bioassay. ATLA: Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 2006.

7.    Knight A, Bailey J, Balcombe J. Animal carcinogenicity studies: implications for the REACH system. ATLA: Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 2006.

8.    Knight A. The effectiveness of humane teaching methods in veterinary education. ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation 2007. Summaries in Vet Rev 2007 & Aust Vet J 2007.
9.    Knight A. The poor contribution of chimpanzee experiments to biomedical progress. J Appl Anim Welf Sci 2007.

10.    Knight A. Systematic reviews of animal experiments demonstrate poor human clinical and toxicological utility. ATLA: Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 2007. Summaries in ALTEX: Alternatives to Animal Experimentation 2007, BMJ 2007 (online rapid response), and Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials 2008.

Popular publications

My articles, editorials, and letters on animal protection issues have been published in major newspapers such as the Washington Times, Seattle Times and San Diego Union-Tribune and popular magazines such as Lifescape. This is the style of writing I most enjoy.

Selected presentations

My speaking topics are available at www.aknight.info/pages/presentations.htm. I have presented internationally on animal protection issues at numerous universities, scientific and popular conferences. Recent examples include:

1.    2005, 5^th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences, Berlin: animal experimentation (animal carcinogenicity studies).

2.    2006, Assoc. of American Veterinary Medical Colleges Education Symposium 'The Use of Animals in Veterinary Medical Teaching: Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement' Washington DC: humane alternatives to harmful animal use in veterinary education.

3.    2006, Oxford University, UK: debate on animal experimentation. Attended by some of the world’s leading vivisection advocates and opponents, this debate drew the largest crowd in six years to the world’s premier debating centre.

4.    2006, ANZCCART and ANZSLAS laboratory animal science conferences, Canberra: humane alternatives to harmful animal use in veterinary education, animal experimentation (systematic reviews of human utility).

5.    2006, University of Sydney Faculty of Veterinary Science: animal welfare standards of veterinarians.
6.    2007, 7^th South American Veterinary Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: humane alternatives to harmful animal use in veterinary education, animal welfare standards of veterinarians, animal experimentation (systematic reviews of human utility).

7.    2007, 6^th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan: animal experimentation (systematic reviews of human utility), chimpanzee experimentation, humane alternatives to harmful animal use in veterinary education.

8.    2007, 14^th Congress on Alternatives to Animal Testing, Linz, Austria: animal experimentation (systematic reviews of human utility), humane alternatives to harmful animal use in veterinary education.

Websites

1.    www.aknight.info: presentation summaries and further information.
2.    www.AnimalExperiments.info: published scientific studies and governmental reports demonstrating the poor predictivity of animal experiments for human medical outcomes, poor laboratory animal welfare, and describing non-animal alternatives.
3.    www.HumaneLearning.info: over 400 educational studies describing humane alternatives to harmful animal use in biomedical education and related resources, including a review of over 30 studies comparing student learning outcomes obtained via harmful animal use with those obtained via humane teaching methods.
4.    www.LearningWithoutKilling.info: support and guidance for students unwilling to harm animals for their education.
5.    www.VegePets.info: comprehensive information about the health and nutritional aspects of vegan companion animal diets.
6.    www.NewsPaperContacts.info: letter to the editor, editorial and news contact details for leading newspapers in major regions of the world, along with newspaper rankings and circulation figures.
7.    www.AnimalConsultants.org: experts with specialised skills or qualifications wishing to assist animal advocacy campaigns.

Awards

1.    2000: Inaugural World League for the Protection of Animals Award for the Promotion of Compassion for Animals.

2.    2005: German Animal Welfare Federation's 'Animal Welfare Poster Award,' 5^th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences, Berlin.

3.    2006: Poster Award, Conservation & Animal Welfare conference, Lisbon, Portugal.

4.    2006: Poster Award, 13^th Congress on Alternatives to Animal Testing, Linz, Austria.

Professional licensure

I am licensed or eligible for licensure to practice veterinary medicine in the US, the UK, Australia and several other countries.
 

Referees and further information

Available upon request.