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.

June Cotner is the editor of Dog Blessings: Poems, Prose and Prayers Celebrating Our Relationship with Dogs (2008). She lives in Poulsbo, Wash.

Rynn Berry is the author of Food for the Gods: Vegetarianism & the World’s Religions and an adviser to the North American Vegetarian Society. He is based in New York City.

Allen and Linda Anderson run the Angel Animals Network, a website for those who believe animals communicate and guide people before and after their deaths. They are the authors of numerous books about the spirituality of animals, including Angel Animals: Divine Messengers of Miracles and God’s Messengers: What Animals Teach Us About the Divine. They are based in Minneapolis.

A June 1, 2009, New York Times story quotes Roeder’s ex-wife as saying he was looking for a “scapegoat” to blame for his troubles. “First it was taxes — he stopped paying. Then he turned to the church and got involved in anti-abortion,” she said.

A June 2, 2009, Time magazine story notes that Roeder’s car was “decorated with a red rose — an antiabortion emblem — and a Jesus fish.”