Steven Wise, founder of The Nonhuman Rights Project

Steven Wise–the founder and president of The Nonhuman Rights Project; he’s also an attorney, author, legal scholar and professor who’s taught at Harvard Law School–discusses how the law he was practicing (personal injury) shifted focus 30-plus

years ago upon reading Peter Singer’s “Animal Liberation.” His new focus became animal protection law. He traces his career path from there, including serving  a decade-long stint as president of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and founding the The Nonhuman Rights Project. He outlines the NhRP’s mission (seeking legal rights for members of non-human species, so they gain “personhood” status ) and describes the painstaking process by which Wise and the organization’s 70 volunteers have analyzed countless court cases, looking for one that fits their specific criteria for the first case NhRP would get directly involved with, a process that’s already consumed some 30,000 hours. We explore some specifics of this scenario, including possible outcomes, speaking hypothetically in a number of ways about Lolita, the orca that’s lived at the Miami Seaquarium for 40 years.  (www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/  www.facebook.com/NonhumanRights)

ALSO: We spoke briefly with Mary Getten about the weekend-long workshop in communicating with animals she was slated to offer Feb. 16-17 in Sarasota. (www.marygetten.com/)

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MUSIC: Cliff Richard’s “The Snake And The Bookworm,” R.E.M.’s “Animal,” instrumentals