The Rev. Mitzi Lynton is an interfaith pastor who participated in a grief support Webinar for Best Friends Network that discussed how animals grieve and how people mourn the deaths of animals. She is based in Arizona.

Kelly Shackelford is president and CEO of First Liberty Institute, a Texas law firm that works to preserve religious freedom and argued in support of the Bladensburg cross before the Supreme Court.

Roberta Kalechofsky is the founder of Jews for Animal Rights and Micah Publications of Marblehead, Mass. She participated in a panel on reaching out to religious groups at the Animal Rights 2003 conference. She requests that reporters contact her by email first and that they identify themselves fully in the subject line.

Jean Houston is the author of Mystical Dogs: Animals as Guides to Our Inner Life. She is based in Ashland, Ore.

I. Carter Heyward is an Episcopal minister and a professor of theology at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. She is the author of Flying Changes: Horses as Spiritual Teachers.

Sandra Helton is an astrologer and spiritualist who conducts animal spirituality workshops. She is also active in animal activism.

Diana L. Guerrero is an animal behaviorist and the author of What Animals Can Teach Us About Spirituality. She is based in Southern California.

See a June 1, 2009, New York Times roundup and analysis of surveys on abortion and the possible impact of the Tiller shooting on public opinion.

The Rev. Bonnie Duncan runs All Creatures Animal Sanctuary and Fellowship Church in Cedar Hill, Mo.