BOOKS: Endangered Parrots

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Endangered Parrots

Revised edition, by Rosemary Low.

Blandford (distributed in the U.S. by Sterling Publishing Co.,

387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810), 1984 and 1994.

200 pages; 21 color and 77 black-and-white photos; $24.95 paperback.

Extinction in the wild is inevitable

for many species of parrot. In this revised

edition of her 1984 original, Rosemary Low

paints somber scenes of fading beauty. From

the last Spix macaw left in Brazil to the

unique flightless kakapo of New Zealand,

the beautiful parrots enjoy few safe havens.

BOOKS: A Practical Guide to Ferret Care

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

A Practical Guide to Ferret Care

by Deborah Jeans, with medical editor Susan A. Brown, DVM.

Ferrets Inc. (POB 450099, Miami, FL 33245-0099), 1994.

146 pages, hardbound, illustrated, $22.95.

Michigan and Minnesota recently

legalized ferret ownership, while as A N I-

MAL PEOPLE goes to press, a bill to lift

the ferret ban California imposed in 1987 is

expected to clear the state legislature any day

now. That would leave Hawaii as the last

state with a ferret ban still in place. For bet-

ter or worse, ferrets have become part of the

American pet menagerie, and animal shel-

ters must learn to cope with them––as many

already have. Thirty-three states now have

their own ferret rescue networks, loosely

linked by Shelters That Adopt and Rescue

Ferrets, 7402 Joseph Court, Annandale,

VA 22003; 703-354-5073.

BOOKS: Is Your Cat Crazy?

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Is Y our Cat Crazy?

Solutions from the Casebook of a Cat Therapist

by John C. Wright, with Judi Wright Lashnitz. MacMillan Publishing USA

(15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023), 1994. 227 pages, cloth, $18.00.

Here is a book that may save

many a cat from being cast outside to live as

a quasi-feral because of undesirable,

unfathomable, and intractable indoor con-

duct. A behaviorist, not a “shrink” for ani-

mals, Dr. Wright stresses that this is not a

how-to book, because each cat is an indi-

vidual whose actions are actually reactions

to specific situations within each particular

household.

BOOKS: The Animal Research Controversy

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

The Animal Research Controversy

Protest, Process and Public Policy. An Analysis of Strategic Issues,

by Andrew N. Rowan and Franklin M. Loew, with Joan C. Weer.

Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy (200 Westboro Road,

North Grafton, MA 01536), 1995. 210 pages, quality paperback, $30.00.

A decade after publishing the most

reliable resume of the vivisection issue to that

point, Of Mice, Models, & Men ( 1 9 8 4 ) ,

Andrew Rowan et al have done it again. The

Animal Research Controversy presents and

evaluates every significant fact and factual

claim made by either side––and like Of Mice,

Models, & Men, won’t please any of the

noisier partisans, as Rowan once more

demolishes popular fallacy.

BOOKS: Circles of Compassion

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Circles of Compassion, edited

by Elaine Sichel. Voice & Vision

Publishing (12005 Green Valley Road,

Sebastopol, CA 95472), 1995. 226

pages, paper. $14.50.

“Know the difference between a

fairy-tale and a war story?”, asks a grunt in

Tom Suddick’s 1974 Vietnam War classic A

Few Good Men. “A fairy-tale begins,

‘Once upon a time.’ A war story begins,

‘This is no shit.’”

REVIEWS: Paws, Claws, Feathers & Fins

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Paws, Claws, Feathers & Fins, 30-minute video from KidVidz

(618 Centre St., Newton, MA 02158). $14.95 (video only); $34.90 with

Leader’s Guide, 50 activity guides, and license for public performance rights.

Here’s help for humane educators

who can’t bring controversy into the class-

room. Directed at children ages 4-12, but

probably most effective for primary grades,

Paws, Claws, Feathers & Fins succinctly

explains all that goes into keeping a pet, and

tosses in an operatic song about how every

kind of animal poops, sure to please most

young boys without offending most parents.

BOOKS: Little Brother Moose & The Tree in the Ancient Forest

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Little Brother Moose, by James Kasperson, illustrated by Karlyn Holman.

The Tree in the Ancient Forest,

by Carol Reed Jones, illustrated by Christopher Canyon.

Each $6.95/paper or $14.95/cloth, from Dawn Publications

(14618 Tyler Foote Road, Nevada City, CA 95959), 1995.

Attractively and imaginatively

illustrated, Little Brother Moose is modeled

on the Native American tradition of the

Vision Quest, a solo journey in search of

self-understanding that marks the passage

into adulthood––this time made by a moose.

It also resembles the story of an early settler

on the future site of Boston, who moved

west when it got too crowded. Invited back

for a visit by the civic authorities, decades

later, he rode in on a bull, trotted disgusted-

ly through the busy streets, and galloped

west again without even stopping for a drink.

BOOKS: Life Song: In Harmony With All Creation

May 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1995:

Life Song: In Harmony With All Creation, by Bill Schul, Ph.D.

Stillpoint Publishing (Box 640, Walpole, NH 03608), 1994.

204 pages, with bibliography. $12.95.

Bill Schul endorses the idea of a

universal life spirit, not the private domain

of homo sapiens, but shared by every organ-

ic entity on the globe. It is a spirit of com-

munication and intelligence, having its

essence at the very cellular core of each liv-

ing thing. This is an idea of mythic and con-

tentious proportions, yet Schul glides easily

across this semi-mystic plane where many

others before him have been blown to bits by

the land mines of the Scientific Method.

BOOKS: Ocean Warrior

May 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1995:

Ocean Warrior, by Captain Paul Watson.

Key Porter Books Ltd. (70 The Esplanade, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5E 1R2), 1994. 264 pages, cloth, $26.95.

[In U.S., order from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 3107-A Washington Blvd., Marina Del Ray, CA 90292.]

If Ocean Warrior was a work of fiction and Paul

Watson had never been a sailor, it would still make Watson a

worthy heir to the tradition of Stephen Crane, Herman

Melville, and Robert Louis Stevenson––a tradition he honors

with allusions to The Open Boat, Moby Dick and Treasure

Island. It’s a can’t-put-it-down page-turner: a rousing collec-

tion of classic sea stories, weaving all five of the eternal

themes into a single narrative. For those who weren’t litera-

ture majors, that’s man-against-man, man-against-woman,

mankind-against-nature, self-against-self, and coming-of-

age. It’s the story of a young man who matures through der-

ring-do in naval battle, growing into the command of a fleet

and leadership of a crusade while more awkwardly grappling

with politics and personal relationships.

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