We now know that animals not only communicate among themselves but also with us. We have never been so close to understanding each other but there is more work to be done towards an understanding of that other which man has never really considered us an interlocutor.
But the status, point of view and rights of animals are now taken into consideration. Listening to the other, allowing him to be heard, is to see him as belonging to this world. Allowing animals to communicate with us is not a trivial matter. The world which listens to what they say is continuing to humanize itself.
Karine Lou Matignon is a journalist, author and scriptwriter. She has specialized in the relationship between man and animals for almost 30 years and is the author of Sans les animaux, le monde ne serait pas humain (Without animals, the world would not be human); A l’écoute du monde sauvage: pour réinventer notre avenir (Listening to the animal world: towards reinventing our future) (Albin Michel, 2003 and 2013) and Enfants et animaux, des liens en partage (Children and animals, shared connections) (La Martinière, 2012). She recently edited the collective work, Révolutions animales (Animal revolutions) (La Martinière, 2016).