Over the last two decades One Health has gained prominence as a program paradigm among wildlife conservation practitioners. There is more than one definition of One Health but they share the starting point that humans, animals and the environment are an interdependent system. One Health has benefited from the development of other integrated health approaches such as Conservation Medicine, Ecosystem Health and Ecohealth. Dr. Koontz shares the characteristics and ethical values from these alternative approaches.

This series on One Health Ethics is co-hosted with the Society for Conservation Biology North America and its Policy Committee. https://scbnorthamerica.org/index.php/event/policy-ethics-webinar-historical-and-practical-considerations-for-one-health-projects/

HOSTS & GUESTS

Fred Koontz, PhD, is Emeritus Fellow at PAN Works, a member of the Policy Committee of the SCBNA, and former Vice-President of Field Conservation, Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, WA). https://panworks.io/team/name/fred-koontz/

William S. Lynn, PhD (Bill) is President and founder of PAN Works and host of the PAN Thinks podcast. https://panworks.io/team/name/william-lynn/

Production is by Gary Sheer. https://garysheerphotography.com/

Recorded on 25 March 2026.

Episode art by Elena Mozhvilo on UnSplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/a-watercolor-painting-of-the-earth-in-space-eA32JIBsSu8

FROM THIS EPISODE

Koontz, F. W., & Daszak, P. (2005). Sprawl and disease. In E. Johnson & M. Klemens (Eds.), Nature in Fragments: The Legacy of Sprawl (pp. 144-154).

Koontz, F. Wildlife Management 2.0: A Revolution in the Making. PAN Works. https://panworks.medium.com/wildlife-management-2-0-a-revolution-in-the-making-8bbf6ca20c88

Lindenmayer, J. M., Kaufman, G. E., Baker, L., Coglan, S., Koontz, F., Nieuwland, J., Stewart, K. L., & Lynn, W. S. (2022). One health ethics:“What then must we do?”. CABI One Health, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1079/cabionehealth.2022.0011

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The term “One Health” explicitly recognizes that the health and wellbeing of people, other animals, and nature are interdependent. While the goal of One Health is optimal health for all, in practice it almost always privileges people at the expense of animals and nature. This presentation will set the stage for considering how we might incorporate ethics more explicitly into conservation through One Health principles.

This series on One Health Ethics is co-hosted with the Society for Conservation Biology North America and its Policy Committee. https://scbnorthamerica.org/index.php/event/policy-ethics-webinar-one-health-101-basics-of-a-one-health-approach-to-conservation/

HOSTS & GUESTS

Joann Lindemeyer, DVM, MPH, is a Fellow at PAN Works, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at Tufts University School of Medicine. https://panworks.io/team/name/joann-lindenmayer/

William S. Lynn, PhD (Bill) is President and founder of PAN Works and host of the PAN Thinks podcast. https://panworks.io/team/name/william-lynn/

Production is by Gary Sheer. https://garysheerphotography.com/

Recorded on 11 March 2026.

Episode art by Rohit Varma on UnSplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-elephants-playing-KB4M14SbvXA

Episode art by Elena Mozhvilo on UnSplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/blue-green-and-yellow-abstract-painting-znhEe1cbbQE

FROM THIS EPISODE

Lindenmayer, J. M., Kaufman, G. E., Baker, L., Coglan, S., Koontz, F., Nieuwland, J., Stewart, K. L., & Lynn, W. S. (2022). One health ethics:“What then must we do?”. CABI One Health, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1079/cabionehealth.2022.0011

Lindenmayer, J. M., & Kaufman, G. E. (2021). One Health and One Welfare. In One Welfare in Practice (pp. 1-30). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003218333-1

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An elephant pauses at a crossroads. Her trunk rises, testing the air. She weighs memory, social awareness, the quality of the wind — then commits to a path. What does she know? And what follows, for science and for ethics, if we take that question seriously? In this talk, Liv Baker shows that animals are knowers — beings with rich, embodied, relational knowledge of their worlds — and that this singular recognition, pursued with rigor and honesty, unsettles much of what we think we know about animal wellbeing, autonomy, and what it even means to study animal lives. Drawing on her research with elephants and a framework she calls Spheres of Wellbeing, Baker makes the case that taking animal inner lives seriously is not simply a methodological adjustment. It is a commitment — to treating animals as subjects rather than objects, in how we ask our questions, design our studies, and decide what we are and are not willing to do in the name of knowledge.

HOSTS & GUESTS

Dr. Liv Baker, PhD, is a conservation behaviourist, and a founder of the emergent field of compassionate conservation. She is Fellow and Chair of the Board at PAN Works, Research Director for Mahouts Elephant Foundation, and honorary adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, where she earned her PhD in Animal Welfare Science and Applied Animal Biology. https://panworks.io/team/name/liv-baker/

William S. Lynn, PhD (Bill) is President and founder of PAN Works and host of the PAN Thinks podcast. https://panworks.io/team/name/william-lynn/

Production is by Gary Sheer. https://garysheerphotography.com/

Recorded on 28 May 2026.

Episode art by Rohit Varma on UnSplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-elephants-playing-KB4M14SbvXA

FROM THIS EPISODE

Baker, L. (2025). Should (and Can) Declarations on Animal Consciousness Go Further? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY_fw6pmJCE

Baker, L., King, B. J., & Lynn, W. S. (2024). Rethinking Animal Consciousness Research to Prioritize Well-Being. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180124000501

Baker, L., Pauketat, J., Blaine, S., Greer, C., Howansky, K., Massiot, E., Maarschalkerweerd, M. V., & Winkler, R. (2025). Autonomy: An Indicator of Wellbeing in Rewilded Asian Elephants Connected to Karen Communities in Thailand. Society & Animals, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-bja10252

🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pan-thinks/id1870689174

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How does the concept of wellbeing inform animal lives? Wellbeing incorporates and yet extends previous ideas of animal welfare. It envisions in both a scientific and ethical sense how people should think and act so animals have lives that are worth living. A core concept and commitment of PAN Works, Liv Baker’s articulation of wellbeing deepens our understanding of what it means and signifies for wild and domesticated animals alike.

This is Part 2 of 2 episodes.

HOSTS & GUESTS

Dr. Liv Baker, PhD, is a conservation behaviorist, and a founder of the emergent field of compassionate conservation. She is a Fellow and Chair of the Board at PAN Works, Research Director for Mahouts Elephant Foundation, and honorary adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, where she earned her PhD in Animal Welfare Science and Applied Animal Biology. https://panworks.io/team/name/liv-baker/

William S. Lynn, PhD (Bill) is the founder of PAN Works and host of the PAN Thinks podcast. https://panworks.io/team/name/william-lynn/

Production is by Gary Sheer. https://garysheerphotography.com/

Recorded on 6 December 2023.

Episode art by Pawel Borkowski on Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/two-elephants-near-trees-XWTNFVCTS8E

FROM THIS EPISODE

Baker, L., & Winkler, B. (2020). Rewilding and mixed-community collaboration in conservation. Animal Sentience, 28(21). https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol5/iss28/21/

Kopnina, H., & Baker, L. (2023). Conservation, Animal Wellbeing, and Indigenous Participation at an Elephant Sanctuary in Mondulkiri, Cambodia. Society & Animals, 1(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1163-15685306-bja10126

Lynn, W. S., Baker, L., Santiago-Ávila, F. J., & Stewart, K. L. (2023). Ethics, Wellbeing and Wild Lives. In A. H. Fine, M. Mueller, Z. Ng, J. M. Peralta, & A. Beck (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook on Human-Animal Interactions, Interventions and Anthrozoology (pp. 438-452). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032153346-30

🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pan-thinks/id1870689174

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@panworksio

🌐 Learn More: https://panworks.io/

🐾 Support: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-for-animal-wellbeing

About

How does the concept of wellbeing inform animal lives? Wellbeing incorporates and yet extends previous ideas of animal welfare. It envisions in both a scientific and ethical sense how people should think and act so animals have lives that are worth living. A core concept and commitment of PAN Works, Liv Baker’s articulation of wellbeing deepens our understanding of what it means and signifies for wild and domesticated animals alike.

This is Part 1 of a 2 episodes.

HOSTS & GUESTS

Dr. Liv Baker is a conservation behaviorist, and a founder of the emergent field of compassionate conservation. She is a Fellow and Chair of the Board at PAN Works, Research Director for Mahouts Elephant Foundation, and an honorary adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia where she earned her PhD in Animal Welfare Science and Applied Animal Biology. https://panworks.io/team/name/liv-baker/

William S. Lynn, PhD (Bill) is the founder of PAN Works and host of the PAN Thinks podcast. https://panworks.io/team/name/william-lynn/

Recorded on 6 December 2023.

Episode art by Pawel Borkowski on Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/two-elephants-near-trees-XWTNFVCTS8E

FROM THIS EPISODE

Baker, L. (2013). Why individuals matter: Lessons in animal welfare and conservation. In M. Bekoff (Ed.), Ignoring Nature No More. The Case for Compassionate Conservation (pp. 159-166). University of Chicago Press.

Baker, L. (2017). Translocation biology and the clear case for compassionate conservation. Israel Journal of Ecology & Evolution, 63(3-4), 52–60. https://doi.org/10.1163/22244662-20181026

Baker, L., & Winkler, B. (2020). Asian Elephants rescue, rehabilitation, and rewilding. Animal Sentience, 28(1). https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.782840

PAN Works is an ethics think tank for animals. To help power our mission, visit https://panworks.io/

🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pan-thinks/id1870689174

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Brandon Keim’s latest book is Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World (2024). He draws on the explosion of research into animal cognition to argue that the cities and landscapes around us are filled with thinking, feeling individuals. Taking these animals seriously means they deserve to be understood not merely as populations to be managed, but as neighbours entitled to moral consideration.

HOSTS & GUESTS

Brandon Keim is a freelance journalist specializing in science, nature, and animals. His first book was The Eye of the Sandpiper (2017), and he’s written many articles on animals for National Geographic, the New York Times, The Atlantic, and WIRED. He is also a contributing editor at Nautilus Quarterly. You can learn more about Brandon’s fascinating work on his website, https://brandonkeim.net/.

William S. Lynn, PhD (Bill) is the founder of PAN Works and host of the PAN Thinks podcast. https://panworks.io/team/name/william-lynn/

Barbara J. King is a PAN Works Fellow and a freelance science writer and public speaker, https://panworks.io/team/name/barbara-king/.

Fred Koontz, PhD, is a PAN Works Emeritus Fellow and an ethological zoologist. https://panworks.io/team/name/fred-koontz/.

Production is by Gary Sheer. https://garysheerphotography.com/

Recorded on 22 May 2025.

Episode Art Kate Russell on Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/photos/a-squirrel-is-sitting-on-a-tree-branch-6vQ-Kq2dkZc?

FROM THIS EPISODE

Keim, B. (2017). The Eye of the Sandpiper: Stories from the Living World (1 ed.). Comstock Publishing Associates.

Keim, B. (2024). Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World. W. W. Norton.

Keim, B. (2025). When That Chickadee Is No Longer “A Machine With Feathers”. Issues in Science and Technology, XLI(3 Spring), 52–59. https://doi.org/10.58875/PIKP7447

King, B. J. (2024). Valuing animal lives. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq5698

Lynn, W. S. (2025). Chickadee was Never a Feathered Machine. Issues in Science and Technology, XLI(4), forthcoming. https://issues.org/evolving-view-animal-minds-keim-forum/

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In this episode we explore the thought of ethicist and philosopher Mary Midgley. Midgley was a key scholar of common-sense morality, and the most important ethicist of animals in the last century. Her ideas have enduring significance for people, animals and nature today.

GUEST and Host

Greg McElwain is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the College of Idaho. He is a leading expert on the thought of Mary Midgley, and author of Mary Midgley: An Introduction (Bloomsbury, 2020), https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/mary-midgley-9781350047563/. His forthcoming book is Mary Midgley on What Matters: Conversations on Science, Ethics, and Nature (Bloomsbury, 2026).

William S. Lynn, PhD (Bill) is the founder of PAN Works and host of the PAN Thinks podcast. https://panworks.io/team/name/william-lynn/

Production is by Gary Sheer. https://garysheerphotography.com/

FROM THIS EPISODE

Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman, Metaphysical Animals:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/617233/metaphysical-animals-by-clare-mac-cumhaill-and-rachael-wiseman/

Benjamin Lipscomb, The Women Are Up to Something:

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-women-are-up-to-something-9780197541074?cc=us&lang=en&

Notes from a Biscuit Tin:

https://www.notesfromabiscuittin.com/

Greg McElwain’s work:

https://gregorysmcelwain.academia.edu/

Nat Dyer’s Obituary of Mary Midgley

https://philosophynow.org/issues/140/Mary_Midgley_1919-2018

***

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Dr. Neimeic shares her research on the factors influencing public support of carnivore protection ballot initiatives. Using moral foundations theory and data from in-person interviews, she demonstrates the arguments and messaging swaying voters on carnivore protection issues.

HOSTS & GUESTS

Bernard Travessari, MS (Bernie) is the host for this episode. He is Director of Operations & Programs for the Society for Conservation Biology North America. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardotraversari/

William S. Lynn, PhD (Bill) is the founder of PAN Works and host of the PAN Thinks podcast. https://panworks.io/team/name/william-lynn/

Rebecca Neimeic, PhD (Becky) is Co-Director of the Animal-Human Policy Center at Colorado State University. https://sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/animalhumanpolicy/

Production is by Gary Sheer. https://garysheerphotography.com/

FROM THIS EPISODE

Niemiec, R., Kogan, L., Jones, M. S., Santiago-Ávila, F. J., Seacor, R., Mertens, A., & Crooks, K. (2026). Widespread public support and pluralistic ignorance associated with United States Animal Protection Policy. Human-Animal Interactions, 14:1, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1079/hai.2026.0001

This pod is part of a joint series on ethics in conservation undertaken by PAN Works and the Society for Conservation Biology North America.

🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pan-thinks/id1870689174

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@panworksio

🌐 Learn More: https://panworks.io/

🐾 Support: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-for-animal-wellbeing