[2] David Olivier, Yves Bonnardel and three other French activists in May 1989 published a pamphlet Nous ne mangeons pas de viande pour ne pas tuer d'animaux ("We don't eat meat so we don't kill animals"), in response to debate around vegetarianism in the animal protection movement in France.

[3] The journal was founded in 1991 as Cahiers antispécistes lyonnais, by Olivier, Bonnardel and Françoise Blanchon; they were the first people in France to use the term antispeciesism and speak out against it.

[4] The journal's name came from what its first three editors defined as its focus: "to question speciesism and to explore the scientific, cultural and political implications of such a project".

[5] The original intention was to have similar journals published in many different cities throughout France; by September 1994, these failed to materialise, so "lyonnais" was dropped from the name.

[6] As well as articles on moral philosophy, Cahiers antispécistes contained translated versions and commentaries of texts written by English-speaking animal rights authors, including Tom Regan and Peter Singer.