Richard D. Ryder | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ryder in 2012 | |
| Born | Richard Hood Jack Dudley Ryder 3 July 1940 London, Marylebone, England |
| Education |
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| Occupations |
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| Known for | Advocacy of animal rights, opposition to animal research, coining of the terms speciesism and painism |
| Spouse |
Audrey Jane Smith
(m. 1974; div. 1999) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Granville Ryder (great-grandfather) |
| Website | www |
Richard Hood Jack Dudley Ryder (born 3 July 1940) is an English writer, psychologist, and animal rights advocate. Ryder became known in the 1970s as a member of the Oxford Group, a group of intellectuals loosely centred on the University of Oxford who began to speak out against animal use, in particular factory farming and animal research.[1] He was working at the time as a clinical psychologist at the Warneford Hospital in Oxford, and had himself been involved in animal research in the United Kingdom and United States.[2]
In 1970, Ryder coined the term speciesism to describe the exclusion of nonhuman animals from the protections available to human beings. In 1977, he became chairman of the RSPCA Council, serving until 1979, and helped to organize the first academic animal-rights conference, held in August 1977 at Trinity College, Cambridge. The conference produced a "Declaration Against Speciesism", signed by 150 people.[3]
Ryder assisted in achieving the legislative animal protection reforms in the UK and EU between the years 1970 and 2020.[4] He is the author of a number of books about animal research, animal rights, and morality in politics, including Victims of Science (1975), Animal Revolution (1989), and Painism: A Modern Morality (2001). Ryder was president of the RSPCA from 2020–2023.[5][6]
- ^ Ryder, Richard D. (2009). "The Oxford Group," in Marc Bekoff (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Greenwood, pp. 261–262.
- ^ Notes on the Contributors, in Stanley and Roslind Godlovitch and John Harris (eds.) (1971). Animals, Men and Morals. Grove Press.
- ^ "A Declaration against Speciesism", in David Paterson and Richard D. Ryder (1979). Animals' Rights – A Symposium. Centaur Press Ltd.
- Ryder, Richard D. (1979). "The Struggle Against Speciesism," in Paterson and Ryder, op cit.
- ^ "I've been fighting for better farm animal welfare for 50 years". rspca.org.uk. 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
- ^ "Trustees' Report and Accounts 2019" (PDF). RSPCA. 15 October 2020. p. 2. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
- ^ Bonner, Tim (2023). "Chris Packham, the RSPCA and animal rights". Countryside Alliance. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024.