The query came from Peter Singer, the Princeton philosopher and intellectual champion of the animal-rights movement. He said that in his own writing, he used “who” to emphasize the notion of animals as individuals. He was “pleasantly surprised,” he said, to see this headline on The Times’s website, with an Associated Press article about an escaped cow in Queens:

Cow Who Escaped New York Slaughterhouse Finds Sanctuary

“Does The Times have a policy on the use of ‘that’ or ‘who’ for animals?” Professor Singer wondered.

We do, though it doesn’t go as far as he would recommend. We generally use “person” pronouns like “he,” “she” or “who” only for animals who have been given a name, or in cases where the sex of the animal is specified. Otherwise, we stick with “it” and “that” or “which.” Here is our stylebook entry on this point, which is in line with The Associated Press’s guidelines as well:

animals. Call an animal it, not he or she, unless its sex has been mentioned or it has been personalized with a name: The dog was lost; it howled. Marmaduke was lost; he howled. The dog, which was lost, howled. Adelaide, who was lost, howled. The bull tossed his horns.

Professor Singer’s use of “who” for animals fits into his overall perspective on animal-rights issues. In our style guidelines, though, our goal is not to advance any particular agenda or point of view but to reflect widely accepted, familiar usage among our readers. And it seems most common for English speakers to reserve “he,” “she” and “who” for animals with whom we feel a personal connection. Otherwise, “it,” “that” and “which” seem to be the norm.

In the case of the cow in Queens, in fact, it seems our editors were caught between the two impulses. “Freddy,” as the animal was dubbed, was elevated to “who” in the headline, but remained a mere “that” in the lead sentence of the story.

In an exchange of emails, Professor Singer said he thought usage on this point might be gradually shifting. Google searches, he said, revealed a large number of uses of “who” with nondomesticated animals, including deer and ants.