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| V. Victoria Shroff |
Animal sentience
Goodall’s deep knowledge of animals bridged the gap between the scientific community and the mainstream. She became a catalyst for animal protection both in science and law. As a global animal ambassador, she was able to simplify and demonstrate to the world how animals are sentient beings based on her lifelong work with chimpanzees and other animals.
Goodall and world-renowned compassionate conservationist scientist Dr. Marc Bekoff (author of The Emotional Lives of Animals (revised): A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy — and Why They Matter, with a foreword by Goodall) collaborated over the decades to elevate animals as sentient. In the early 2000s, Bekoff and Goodall created a road map underscoring the importance of sentience as a keystone concept melding animal ethics, cognition, sentience and interconnectivity, calling it the “Ten Trusts” (The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for The Animals We Love, by Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff).
The Ten Trusts developed by Goodall and Bekoff are:
1. Rejoice that we are part of the animal kingdom.
2. Respect all life.
3. Open our minds, in humility, to animals and learn from them.
4. Teach our children to respect and love nature.
5. Be wise stewards of life on earth.
6. Value and help preserve the sounds of nature.
7. Refrain from harming life in order to learn about it.
8. Have the courage of our convictions.
9. Praise and help those who work for animals and the natural world.
10. Act knowing we are not alone and live with hope.
2. Respect all life.
3. Open our minds, in humility, to animals and learn from them.
4. Teach our children to respect and love nature.
5. Be wise stewards of life on earth.
6. Value and help preserve the sounds of nature.
7. Refrain from harming life in order to learn about it.
8. Have the courage of our convictions.
9. Praise and help those who work for animals and the natural world.
10. Act knowing we are not alone and live with hope.
In the summer of 2025, Goodall and Bekoff co-hosted a podcast episode called Jane Goodall at 90, where they discussed their deeply considered views on animal emotions and sentience.
Reframing animals as someone, not something: Science and law co-existing
We needed to reframe institutional and outmoded thinking in both law and science: animals are someone not something. Goodall helped the world understand this essential fact.
Goodall’s work had a significant impact on many people and on animal law, including here in Canada. Goodall was a hero to many of us who work with animals, whether it be in science or in law, including me, an animal law lawyer. We shared a lifelong kinship with animals, we both lived in Africa and we both devoted our careers to animals. Goodall was a champion for animals and helped to bring the concerns of animals to the forefront of legislatures.
There was a powerful Canadian animal protection bill introduced in 2020 by the late Murray Sinclair called the Jane Goodall Bill. The bill drew on public opinion that captivity of certain animals is outdated and cruel. I’ve outlined my thinking on the then-proposed law in some detail in my recently published book, Canadian Animal Law, 2nd Edition, and how the now-defunct bill could still help shape future animal protective legislation in Canada because even though, as I wrote, “the Jane Goodall Act did not become law in 2024, I remain hopeful that we will circle back to its tenets in the future.”
The Jane Goodall Act would have built upon landmark 2019 laws banning whale and dolphin captivity in Canada. So, when Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson stated in October 2025 that she could not in “good conscience” approve the export of 30 beluga whales to China from Marineland in Ontario, I not only cheered for the belugas, but I also thought of Goodall.
The minister’s decision to deny the special permit is in keeping with the laws protecting marine mammals from exploitation, and she rightly posited that the belugas being shipped off would have continued to live their lives in tiny tanks and as entertainers, stating to the CBC news on Oct. 1: “Like many of you, I am angered that these whales have lived a life of captivity and as a result their health has deteriorated,” she said. “Canadians expect me to act in the best interest of the whales.”
It was wonderful to hear a federal minister clearly stating that the government would act in the best welfare interests of the beleaguered belugas. Goodall’s beliefs that cetaceans belong in their natural habitats, rooted in science and kindness and the conviction that captivity for the sake of spectacle is indefensible, squares neatly with the minister’s reasoning and moral framing of the issue that approving the export of the belugas would continue their exploitation.
Human responsibility is needed, not only animal rights
Goodall worked closely with trailblazing American lawyer and founder of the Nonhuman Rights Project Steven M. Wise on several cases, and she penned the foreword to his 2000 book Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals, which sets out the argument that nonhuman animals like chimpanzees should be recognized as legal persons with fundamental rights.
Goodall distinguished between arguing not only for animal rights and instead championed humans embracing responsibility for animals. I attended a talk on April 8, 2021, at Humane Canada’s National Animal Welfare Conference where Goodall stated: “We can fight for animal rights, but I fight for human responsibility.”
Goodall’s words very much align with my own animal law ethos. It can be argued that humans taking responsibility for animals goes beyond the framework of animal rights and speaks to a wider, more comprehensive commitment for humans to acknowledge consequences of actions, taking accountability and making changes in law to actively protect animals, honouring their intrinsic value. In the absence of a firm foundation in human responsibility, the concept of animal rights remains aspirational.
Jane Goodall made the world a kinder place for animals and humans. A prolific writer, speaker and animal conservationist, her legacy will continue to echo through her groundbreaking animal work.
V. Victoria Shroff, KC, is one of Canada’s first and longest-serving animal law practitioners and the longest-serving in B.C. Shroff practises animal law in Vancouver at Shroff and Associates. She is also an adjunct professor of animal law at UBC’s Allard School of Law and faculty, Capilano University. Shroff is an associate fellow at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. Recognized locally and internationally as an animal law expert, she is frequently interviewed by the media. The second edition of her book, Canadian Animal Law, was published in 2025 is available at LexisNexis Canada. www.shroffanimallaw.com | LinkedIn.
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