Category: Reviews

BOOKS—One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Tales of Animals Caring for One Another

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Tales of Animals Caring for One Another by Lisa Rogak St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan,  175 Fifth Ave., New York,  NY  10010),  2013.  145 pages,  paperback.  $14.99.

Lisa Rogak in One Big Happy Family treats us to short but sweet stories of animals caring for animals of other species.  Among the most unusual cases is that of Hiroko,  a cat kept by Japanese farmers Norio and Yoshiko Endo.  Hiroko had three kittens in 2007,  but all of them died.  Soon afterward Hiroko was accidentally left in a room with a pair of duck eggs.  She apparently hatched the eggs and was found––and photographed––keeping the ducklings warm. Read more

BOOKS—Loving Animals: Toward a New Animal Advocacy

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From Animal People September 2013:

Loving Animals:  Toward a New Animal Advocacy   by Kathy Rudy University of Minnesota Press (111 Third Avenue South,  Suite 290,  Minneapolis, MN 55401),  2011.  260 pages hardcover,  $16.98.

Trained in theological ethics and women’s studies,  Kathy Rudy describes herself as neither an ethologist nor an animal behaviorist, but writes “It would not be an overstatement to say that most of the important and successful relationships I’ve had in my life have been with nonhuman animals.” Rudy posits that “you never really love [animals] in general.  You always love the particular.”  This directly contradicts the outlook of most of the “people who care about animals” who read ANIMAL PEOPLE,  many of whom helped to build the animal rights movement of the past several decades.   Read more

BOOKS—Beautiful Old Dogs

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

Beautiful Old Dogs Edited by David Tabatsky,  with photos by Garry Gross St. Martin’s Press  (c/o MacMillan,  175 Fifth Avenue,  New York,  NY  10010),  2013. 144 pages,  hardcover.  $17.99.

Beautiful Old Dogs features photos by fashion photographer turned dog photographer Garry Gross (1937-2010),  matched with literary contributions by prominent dog-loving New Yorkers or former New Yorkers.  Most are contemporary,  including Anna Quindlen,  Ally Sheedy, Doris Day,  Dean Koontz,  and Marlo Thomas,  but the playwright Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) is also represented,  celebrating the endearing qualities of aging pets. Read more

BOOKS: The State of Canada’s Birds 2012

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

By the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI-Canada),  under the leadership of Environment Canada,  Bird Studies Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada,  Nature Canada,  the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Wildlife Habitat Canada |  Free download:  www.stateofcanadasbirds.org and   Avian Conservation & Ecology 8(2).   Free download:  www.ace-eco.org/vol8/iss2/art1

Alleged an October 1,  2013 media release from the American Bird Conservancy,  “A new study from the government of Canada that looked at more than 25 human-caused sources of bird mortality has found that domestic cats, both feral and owned,  are the leading lethal threat to birds in the country.” Read more

SPECIAL: The dog care field manual

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July-August 2013:

The Dog Care Field Manual: How to care for mangy run-down dogs in 2nd and 3rd world countries  (and in developed countries,  too) by Harrell Graham 46-page free download by clicking HERE. 

The Dog Care Field Manual,  by Harrell Graham,  covers wound treatment;  treatment of both internal parasites such as worms and external parasites such as mange;  emergency response to poisoning;  and avoidance of rabies.  Each topic is reviewed in depth and detail,  recommending crisis care that almost anyone can give when the nearest veterinarian is many miles and hours away.   Read more

BOOKS: The Possibility Dogs

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July-August 2013:

The Possibility Dogs   by Susannah Charleson Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (222 Berkeley Street,  Boston, MA 02116),  2013.  260 pages.  $27.00 hardcover,  $9.45 Kindle.

The Possibility Dogs is a sequel to Texas search-and-rescue dog handler Suzannah Charleson’s 2010 hit,  Scent of the Missing:  Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog.  The Possibility Dogs follows a turn in Charleson’s dog-handling career and interests,  after an especially gruesome search-and-rescue job stresses her so much that she struggled afterward with post-traumatic stress disorder.  Read more

BOOKS—Beg: A radical new way of regarding animals

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July-August 2013:

Beg:  A radical new way of regarding animals by Rory Freedman Running Press (2300 Chestnut St.,  Suite 200,  Philadelphia,  PA 19103),  2013. 201 pages,  hardcover.  $18.00.

Beg: a radical new way of regarding animals is an honest,  even blunt look at human relationships with animals.  Rory Freedman shares two adopted dogs with her ex and adopted her own dog named Lucy,  the result of a foster failure.   Read more

BOOKS: Love Saves the Day

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July-August 2013:

Love Saves the Day  by Gwen Cooper Bantam Books (1745 Broadway,  New York,   NY 10019),  2013. 317 pages,  hardcover.  $26.00.

Cat rescuer Gwen Cooper follows up her 2010 best-seller,  Homer’s Odyssey,  about the former strays who kept her company near Ground Zero on September 11,  2011,  with Love Saves the Day,  another superb work told from three viewpoints:  Prudence the cat, the cat’s deceased person Sarah,  and her daughter Laura,  who saves the day.  Each narrator’s personality sparkles.  Read more

Elephants Among Us: Two Performing Elephants in the 20th Century

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July-August 2013:

Elephants Among Us: Two Performing Elephants in the 20th Century by Mike Jaynes Earth Books (15200 NBN Way,  Blue Ridge Summit,  PA 17214),  2013. 199 pages,  paperback.  $22.95.

Elephants Among Us is a lengthy, detailed and meticulously researched e-book about the life and death of two performing elephants. Born in captivity in 1973 and later purchased by animal trainers Mike and Sally LaTorres,  the elephant Stoney began performing in 1977.  He was trained by methods including food deprivation and use of the ankus,  a traditional Indian elephant training device also called,  in the west,  a “bull hook,”  since similar instruments were used to drive cattle to slaughter before the advent of electric prods.  Read more

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