one who loves animals

[Asking]

Is there a single word to describe someone who loves animals (in a platonic way)?

[Quizmonster]

Zo�phile...pronounced zoo-o-file.

[Quizmonster]

Oops! I put the diacritic above the wrong 'o'. It should read 'z�ophile'.

[doglady]

I think that's the word for someone who loves animals in a wrong way!! Like pedophile, loves kids in the wrong way.

I don't know what the word is for the right way though, sorry.

[albatross521]

bestiarian

[LotusEater]

That's 'bestialist'. 'Zoophile' is correct, surely!

[ugly_bob]

the suffix ophile doesn't imply sexual love. Just in certain situations has come to mean that (eg paedophile, necrophile etc.)

A francophile doesn't love the French in the wrong way (other than loving the French ;-) ) for example

[Homer55]

It means both

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=%27Zo ophile%27%20

[albatross521]

bestiarian
n. animal-lover, especially opposed to vivisection. bestiarianism, n.

� From the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia

[Quizmonster]

There is not the remotest suggestion that a z�ophile is someone who loves animals in the wrong way! The grand-daddy of all dictionaries - The Oxford English Dictionary (TOED) - defines it and its cognate term, 'z�ophilist', as (quote)..

"a lover of animals or an opponent of cruelty to animals"

In addition, TOED points out that a bestiarian is an anti-vivisectionist, which does not necessarily make him/her a lover of animals as such. One may disapprove of vivisection and detest cats, for example.
The most specific answer to the question is assuredly 'z�ophile'.

[Quizmonster]

I meant to add above that the commonest word for the love of animals in an abnormal way is 'bestiality'. It has been used in that sense for some 400 years.

[Asking]

Thank you for these answers. This is a great site! I will probably be back...