Australian bioethicist Andrew Knight is a ridiculously busy bloke. He is a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, which is dedicated to advancing the ethical status of animals through academic research, teaching, and publication; the Director of Animal Consultants International, which provides multidisciplinary expertise for animal issues; and a Spokesperson for Animals Count, which is a British political party for people and animals. Andrew also practices veterinary medicine in London.

Not all of Andrew’s ventures have been successful, however. Whilst attempting to relax he founded the Extreme Vegan Sporting Association to showcase vegan fitness. Unfortunately this resulted in risks to life and limb from which he has yet to fully recover.

Andrew has over 50 scientific publications on animal issues. These include an extensive series examining the contributions to human healthcare of animal experiments. These have attracted several awards at international scientific conferences, and formed the basis for his 2010 PhD, which appears to be the first, but hopefully not the last, of its kind. They also provided the foundations for his 2011 book The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments.

Andrew’s other publications have examined the contributions of the livestock sector to climate change, vegan companion animal diets, the animal welfare standards of veterinarians, and the latest evidence about animal cognitive and related abilities, and the resultant moral implications. His informational websites include www.AnimalExperiments.info, www.HumaneLearning.info and www.VegePets.info.

However, Andrew has authored over 30 popular publications as well. The most interesting concern the medicine and husbandry of supposedly mythical animals. As the world’s most published veterinarian in this esoteric field, he is well on the way to becoming the first registered specialist in Veterinary Cryptozoology (Dip. Crypt.), specialising in the medicine and surgery of animals considered extinct, or otherwise non-existent by (regrettably closed-minded) mainstream biologists.

To date Andrew’s studies have taken him to Loch Ness, remote alpine summits, Ireland, and even London’s eminent College of Psychic Studies. The outstanding success of most of these trips has been only marginally diminished by the unfortunate absence to date of any of the creatures he has actually sought. Nevertheless, Andrew remains determined to bring the benefits of modern medicine to the rarest and most wonderful of the world’s creatures, no matter how many mountains he must climb, snow-fields he must ski, or tropical islands he must search; and no matter how much time he must — with the deepest of regrets — take off work.

Andrew’s travel adventures have been extensively chronicled in British veterinary journals and elsewhere, and at his travel photo website.