Anna Peterson is professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School and her AB from the University of California at Berkeley. Her research interests are in religion and social change, especially in Latin America; environmental and social ethics; and animal studies. She has published a number of articles, chapters, and book in these areas. Her current research explores the politics and ethics of companion animal rescue. She is also involved in collaborative study, with wildlife ecologists and veterinarians, of the social and ecological context of outdoor cats.