BOOKS: All My Patients Have Tales

September 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2009:

All My Patients Have Tales:
Favorite Stories from a Vet’s Practice
by Jeff Wells, DVM
St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan (175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10010), 2009.
240 pages, illustrated. $24.95 hardcover.

“A sharp pain shot up my arm,” Dr. Wells says as he describes
a frantic feline named Henry, one of his first patients. “The
familiar sensation of warm blood washed over my palm.” The unhappy
cat sank his teeth into the vet’s index finger during the examination.
So began Jeff Wells’ intriguing career as a country
veterinarian. A graduate of the Iowa State University College of
Veterinary Medicine, Wells worked first at a private clinic in South
Dakota, and later in Colorado, assisted by a short young woman
named Jenny who appropriately wore overalls and boots to work.

BOOKS: The Smartest Animals on the Planet

September 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2009:

The Smartest Animals on the Planet: Extraordinary Tales of the
Natural World’s Cleverest Creatures
by Sally Boysen & Deborah Custance
Firefly Books (P.O. Box 1338, Ellicot Station, Buffalo, NY
14205), 2009. 192 pages, illustrated. $35.00, hardcover.

Ohio State University in February 2006 retired to Primarily
Primates a colony of seven chimpanzees kept since 1983 by researcher
Sally Boysen. Opposing the transfer, Boysen allied herself with
PETA. Ensuing litigation, ended by settlement in August 2009, led
to Friends of Animals annexing Primarily Primates later in 2006, and
appears to have cumulatively cost Primarily Primates, FoA, and PETA
approximately $1 million.
While all this was underway, Boysen was apparently writing
The Smartest Animals on the Planet.

BOOKS: Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs

July 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:

Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs:
An inside look at the modern poultry industry by Karen Davis, Ph.D.
Order c/o United Poultry Concerns (P.O. Box 150, Machipongo, VA
23405; 757-678-7875; www.upc-online.org), 2009.
224 pages, paperback. $14.95.

“The mechanized environment, mutilations, starvation
procedures and methodologies of mass murdering birds,
euphemistically referred to as ‘food’ production raise many profound
questions about our society and our species,” says Karen Davis in
this second edition of Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs, an
eye-opening book into a major worldwide industry originally published
in 1996.
Davis takes us from family-owned farms with free roaming
chickens who clucked families awake at dawn to the sprawling factory
farms that now dominate the poultry industry.

BOOKS: The Inner World of Farm Animals

July 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:

The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their amazing social, emotional
and intellectual capacities
by Amy Hatkoff
Stewart, Tabori and Chang (New York), 2009.
(c/o Abrams Books, 115 W. 18th Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY
10011), 2009. 176 pages, $19.95.

“Chickens are very social and form strong friendships. They
prefer the company of familiar chickens and avoid chickens they don’t
know,” says Inner World of Farm Animals author Amy Hatkoff. This
sounds like my cousin who loves company but shies away from
strangers. Is it possible that farm animals, such as chickens,
cows, and sheep experience social memory, show preferences, and
interact with one another? According to the author, the answer is a
resounding yes.

BOOKS: Watching Giants

June 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2009:

Watching Giants: The Secret Lives of Whales by Elin Kelsey
U. of Calif. Press (2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94704), 2008.
216 pages, paperback, illustrated. $17.95.

“Whales inspire me to contemplate connections,” says Elin
Kelsey, author and faculty member at Royal Roads University in
Canada. “They inspire me to act more generously. They inspire me to
experience life in whale scale.” Kelsey’s book Watching Giants takes
us into the fascinating world of all 32 species of the mammoth yet
graceful creatures.

BOOKS: Flyaway

June 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2009:
Flyaway: How a wild bird rehabber sought adventure and found her wings
by Suzie Gilbert
HarperCollins Publishers (10 East 53rd St., New
York, NY 10022), 2009. 352 pages. $25.99
hardcover.
“And I see these two robins, and one is
kicking the crap out of the other one. Beating
the bejesus out of himŠ.And he’s out there right
now waiting for you.”
Bird rehabilitator Suzie Gilbert, of
Hudson Valley, New York, answers frequent calls
of a similar nature, concerned about birds but
not necessarily well-informed about their
behavior.
Her mother fed wild birds, so maybe
Gilbert was destined for this career. But
getting there took time. Gilbert repeatedly
changed directions in pursuing her education and
a career, traveling extensively abroad. She
found her calling by volunteering at a wildlife
rehabilitation center in 1990.

BOOKS: Tails of Recovery

June 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2009:

Tails of Recovery: Addicts & the Pets That Love Them
by Nancy A. Schenck
HarperCollins Publishers (10 East 53rd Street., New York, NY
10022), 2009. 175 pages, hardcover. $29.99.

Tails of Recovery offers a glimpse into the tangled lives of
substance abusers, whose behavior does not always elicit sympathy.
While high, their behavior is often not only illegal but disdainful
and dismissive toward the norms and values of civilized society.
In recovery, most ask for forgiveness. Some do not. The
people profiled in Tales of Recovery may be loved by their pets, but
they have not all shown responsible behavior, even though all of
them are years into recovery, following twelve-step programs and
typically holding jobs.
A few treated their dogs and cats badly while under the
influence. Others were indifferent to their pets’ needs. One moved
from criminal behavior to a legal activity which may contribute at
least as much to animal suffering.

BOOKS: Saved: Rescued Animals & the Lives They Transformed

May 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:

Saved: Rescued Animals & the Lives They Transformed by Karin
Winegar. Photos by Judy Olausen.
Da Capo Press (11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142), 2008.
240 pages, hardcover. $25.95.

“I’m only one person working for animals,” says Stray Rescue
of St. Louis founder Randy Grim. “I’m no hero; this is not a job;
it’s what I am.”
Grim, the Maricopa County Sher-iff’s Department in Phoenix,
Arizona, and Randi Golub from Oregon are among the many dedicated,
brave and caring people featured in Saved: Rescued Animals & the
Lives They Transformed.

BOOKS: Most Good, Least Harm

May 1, 2009 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:

Most Good, Least Harm by Zoe Weil
Simon & Schuster (1230 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10020),
2009. 192-page download; $14.00. 224-page paperback; $15.00.

Institute for Humane Education cofounder Zoe Weil’s latest
book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World
and a Meaningful Life prescribes seven MOGO principles –MOGO is
short for “Most Good”–to build a viable future for our children and
our planet.

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