Category: Reviews

BOOKS: Loyal Forces—The American Animals of World War II

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  May/June 2013:

Loyal Forces:  The American Animals of World War II by Toni M. Kiser & Lindsey F. Barnes Louisiana State University Press (3990 W. Lakeshore Drive,  Baton Rouge,  LA 70808),  2013. 192 pages,  hardcover.  $35.00.

Loyal Forces:  The American Animals of World War II honors the many animals who helped the U.S. military during the war.  The informal use of dogs for military purposes in previous wars was made official in 1942 by the creation of a U.S. Army program called Dogs for Defense.  The program debuted by soliciting donations of German shepherds,  Labrador retrievers,  collies,  and mixes of their configuration who might have the intelligence, disposition,  and ability to obey the commands that they had to learn to do guard work and to carry messages. Contrary to the claims of pit bull enthusiasts today,  bully breeds were not used,  and are not shown among the 157 dogs depicted in Loyal Forces. Read more

BOOKS—Unleashed: The Phenonena of Status Dogs and Weapon Dogs

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  May/June 2013:

Unleashed:  The Phenomena of Status Dogs and Weapon Dogs   by Simon Harding The Policy Press,  U. of Bristol (c/o U. of Chicago Press,   427 East 60th St.,  Chicago,  IL 60637),  2012.    286 pages,  hardcover.  $100.60;  Kindle $23.72.

I first saw an American Staffordshire,  better known as a pit bull,  during a 1989 visit to Baltimore.  Three youths had stolen a cocker spaniel and were encouraging their three unleashed pit bulls to tear the spaniel apart alive.  The spaniel tried desperately to escape,  but was held on a short leash.  By the time I reached the scene,  the spaniel had collapsed,  possibly dead.  The youths kept kicking the remains,  and the AmStaffs kept attacking.  By the time the cops caught up with them,  they had disposed of the evidence.  They laughed in the cops’ faces:  “Man, you’ll never find that dead dog, and anyway we’re juvies––you can’t touch us.” Read more

BOOKS: Saving Baby: How a woman’s love for a racehorse leads to her redemption

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From Animal People May-June 2013—

Saving Baby:  How a woman’s love for a racehorse leads to her redemption by JoAnne Normile with Larry Lindner  Powder Point Publishing (P.O. Box 530,  Hingham,  MA 02043),  2013.    263 pages,  paperback.  $15.00.

JoAnne Normile entered horse racing relatively late in life,  at age 43,  seven years after convincing her husband to move from urban Detroit to rural Michigan,  where they could keep horses.  

By the end of the 1980s they had two horses.  They entered the racing circuit in 1992 with Normile’s beloved Baby.   Read more

BOOKS / Stolen Apes: The Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos & Orangutans

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2013:

Stolen Apes:  The Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees,   Gorillas,  Bonobos & Orangutans by Daniel Stiles,  Ian Redmond,   Doug Cress,  Christian Nellemann,   & Rannweig Knutsdatter Formo United Nations Environment Programme Free download from  <http://www.un-grasp.org/news/121-download>

Kenyan wildlife photographer Karl Amman in March 1996 and March 2000 ANIMAL PEOPLE guest columns recounted how the international conservation establishment ignored his warnings and supporting documentation about the emerging illicit great ape traffic.  Only habitat issues were taken seriously; associating the decline of nonhuman primates with hunting and meat-eating,  as Amman did,  was denounced as allegedly exhibiting an unscientific preoccupation with the fates of individuals,  as opposed to species. Read more

BOOKS / The Lost Whale: The True Story of an Orca Named Luna

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2013:

The Lost Whale: The True Story of an Orca Named Luna by Michael Parfit & Suzanne Chisholm St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan,  175 Fifth Avenue,  New York,  NY  10010),  2013. 329 pages,  hardcover.  $25.99

The Lost Whale is a compelling story of a lost orca,  or killer whale,  who as an infant in 2001 somehow became separated from his pod,  the family that he depended on for survival. Read more

BOOKS: Horse Sanctuary

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2013:

Horse Sanctuary  by Allison Milionis Photos by Karen Tweedy Holmes Universe (300 Park Avenue South,  New York,  NY  10010),  2013. 255 pages,  hardcover.  $40.00.

Horse Sanctuary offers more than 250 exquisite photos of horses at 13 facilities listed here for the interest of readers who may donate to one or more them and wonder what they look like:

The Blackburn Correctional Complex training center operated by the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation in Lexington,  Kentucky;  the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in Hot Springs,  South Dakota; the Catskill Animal Sanctuary,  in Saugerties,  New York;  the Equine Sanctuary,  in Ojai,  California;  Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctuary,  in Green Valley,  Arizona;  Front Range Equine Rescue,  in Larkspur,  Colorado; the Horse Harbor Foundation,  in Poulsbo,  Washington;  the Last Chance Corral in Athens,  Ohio;  Lope Texas,  in Cedar Creek,  Texas;  Lucky Horse Equine Rescue,  in Bolton,  Massachusetts;  Nokota Horse Conservancy,  in Linton,  North Dakota;  Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue,  in Tehachapi,  California;  and Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue,  in South Acworth,  New Hampshire. The accompanying text uncritically describes the work of each facility.  Horse-lovers will love it,  but Horse Sanctuary is at best just a coffee table treatment of the issues involved in horse rescue.  Several of the profiles are seriously misleading.   Read more

BOOKS / The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs are Smarter Than You Think

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2013:

The Genius of Dogs:  How Dogs are Smarter Than You Think  by Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods Dutton (c/o Penguin USA,  375 Hudson St.,  New York, NY 10014), 2013.  367 pages.  $37.95/hardcover or $14.95 paperback.

Publicity for The Genius of Dogs alleges that co-author Brian Hare has done more than anyone else to change human appreciation of the intelligence of dogs.  This overlooks the influence of more than 150 years of highly popular fictional Lassie stories,  originating with The Half-brothers,  by Elizabeth Gaskell in 1859, and countless real-life feats of resourceful intelligence performed by Lassies named after the fictional dogs,  including the rescue and revival of a “drowned” British sailor in 1915 and the rescue of a drowning boy from Lake Ontario in 1936.   Read more

BOOKS: How Animals Grieve

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2013:

How Animals Grieve   by Barbara J. King University of Chicago Press (1427 E. 60th St.,  Chicago,  IL  60637),  2013.  179 pages,  paperback.  $25.00

How Animals Grieve author Barbara J. King asks,  “Is it outlandish to write of animal love?”  No,  of course not.  Some animals love and grieve differently from humans,  but their expressions are real,  and many animals grieve exactly as humans do. Read more

DOCUMENTS: U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, 2012 edition

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2013:

U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook,  2012 edition ($195 member download;  $295 non-member download;  $20 extra for printed copy.) American Veterinary Medical Association,  1931 North Meacham Road, Suite 100,  Schaumburg,  IL 60173. 186 pages,  paperback.    AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals:  2013 edition Free download from:   https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Documents/euthanasia-highres.pdf

The American Veterinary Medical Association charges from $195 to $315 for the U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographic Sourcebook,  2012 edition,  depending on the membership status of the customer and the format in which the book is provided,  but the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals:  2013 edition are free for the downloading. Read more

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