Although ethical questions are at the core of more-than-human geographies, more attention needs to be paid on researchers’ ethical responsibilities to more-than-human research subjects in social scientific research. In this paper I critically analyze my empirical work on Finnish dairy farms from the perspective of multispecies research ethics. I suggest that the concept of care is useful in understanding more-than-human research ethics. Attending to the needs of others can work as a starting point for making difficult ethical decisions in the field. However, in contested moments, different needs are often in conflict. Here, situated ethical responses might be needed in relation to the practices of fieldwork, for example to avoid causing harm to research subjects. Importantly, researchers have to care for their research subjects also through their analysis; addressing the questions related to research ethics also in terms of knowledge politics. When the ethics of care is complemented with the notion of ethics of exclusion, it has potential to tease out broader responsibilities both in interactions and knowledge about other animals and more-than-human research settings.

尽管道德问题是多于人类的地理区域的核心，但仍需要更多地关注研究人员对社会科学研究中多于人类的研究主题的道德责任。在本文中，我从多物种研究伦理的角度批判性地分析了我在芬兰奶牛场的实证工作。我建议，护理的概念对于理解超越人类的研究伦理很有用。照顾他人的需求可以作为在该领域做出困难的道德决策的起点。但是，在有争议的时刻，不同的需求常常会发生冲突。在这里，可能需要与田野调查的实践相关的道德响应，例如，以避免对研究对象造成伤害。重要的，研究人员还必须通过分析来照顾自己的研究对象；在知识政治方面也要解决与研究伦理有关的问题。当护理伦理与排斥伦理观念相辅相成时，它就有可能在与其他动物的互动和知识以及超越人类的研究环境中挑起更广泛的责任。