Zoopolis offers a new agenda for the theory and practice of animal rights. Most animal rights theory focuses on the intrinsic capacities or interests of animals, and the moral status and moral rights that these intrinsic characteristics give rise to. Zoopolis shifts the debate from the realm of moral theory and applied ethics to the realm of political theory, focusing on the relational obligations that arise from the varied ways that animals relate to human societies and institutions. Building on recent developments in the political theory of group-differentiated citizenship, Zoopolis introduces us to the genuine "political animal". It argues that different types of animals stand in different relationships to human political communities. Domesticated animals should be seen as full members of human-animal mixed communities, participating in the cooperative project of shared citizenship. Wilderness animals, by contrast, form their own sovereign communities entitled to protection against colonization, invasion, domination and other threats to self-determination. 'Liminal' animals who are wild but live in the midst of human settlement (such as crows or raccoons) should be seen as "denizens", resident of our societies, but not fully included in rights and responsibilities of citizenship. To all of these animals we owe respect for their basic inviolable rights. But we inevitably and appropriately have very different relations with them, with different types of obligations. Humans and animals are inextricably bound in a complex web of relationships, and Zoopolis offers an original and profoundly affirmative vision of how to ground this complex web of relations on principles of justice and compassion.

苏·唐纳森（Sue Donaldson）和威尔・金里卡（Will Kymlicka）都是加拿大女王大学的政治哲学教授。苏·唐纳森住在加拿大的金斯顿市。她写过很多散文、戏剧和书籍，包括一本素食主义者的食谱，即2003年出版的《不会反咬一口的美食》（Foods That Don't Bite Back）和一本写给年轻人看的侦探小说，即2004出版的《小小的欺骗》（Thread of Deceit）。

威尔・金里卡，加拿大著名哲学教授，1984年获女王大学哲学和政治学学士学位，1987年获牛津大学哲学博士学位，现为加拿大女王大学哲学系教授。

金里卡著作颇丰，主要著作有：《自由主义、社群与文化》（1989）、《当代政治哲学》（1990）、《多元文化公民》（1995）、《探索之路：反思加拿大的族裔文化关系》（1998）、《少数的权利》（2001）。另外，他还是《政治哲学的公正》（1992）、《少数群体文化的权利》（1995）等著作的主编，其中一些著作已被翻译成21国文字。