Product Description

Our treatment of animals in modern America is full of contradictions. Pets are a beloved feature of most American households, many enjoying the most luxurious food and accessories, and reveling in the love and companionship from their human families. At the same time, animals raised for food or clothing, or used for medical experiments and product testing, often live painful, lonely lives in small cages from birth to death. And wild animals suffer in other ways--losing their lives as their habitats disappear, being hunted for trophies, and finding themselves removed from their homes for the exotic pet trade.

Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection offers a concise yet complete overview of the problems of animal suffering, linking them to larger issues of human and environmental exploitation. Authors Erin E. Williams and Margo DeMello examine industries that exploit animals--meat processing companies and agribusinesses; medical experimentation and cosmetic testing facilities; the entertainment industry (circuses, rodeos, zoos, racing, and film making); the pet industry; the fur and leather industry; and commercial and recreational activities centered on hunting. The authors also consider the adverse environmental effects of animal exploitation from pollution to deforestation and the depletion of biodiversity. In addition, they look at the connections between the poor treatment of animals and human exploitation of immigrants, slaughterhouse and farm workers, as well as the larger issues of globalization, hunger, and the negative consequences for Third World nations.

Highly informative yet very reader-friendly, this book not only explores the connections between animal and human suffering, but also integrates solid information with positive case studies of rescued animals and inspiring stories of individual successes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #220491 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 397 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Animal experts Williams (who works for the Humane Society) and DeMello (Stories Rabbits Tell) deliver an excellent look at cruelty to animals on an institutional level in various industries, taking a "common sense perspective" and revealing many disturbing facts that could turn the most ardent meat eater into a hard-core vegetarian. The meat industry gets their toughest scrutiny: the authors show that while nearly 10 billion land animals are raised and killed for food each year in the U.S., "there are virtually no laws that protect them from the worst abuse." Williams and DeMello also vividly describe how more than 95% of the nation's 300 million egg-laying hens spend their entire lives—only 12 to 18 months—"crammed into barren, wire battery cages" where they lack the space to walk and spread their wings. Further, our turkeys are produced by artificial insemination using a sucking device that collects semen from males and then forcibly injects it into females. They are also equally hard on other industries, like cosmetics, textiles and the large commercial pet breeders who sell animals "well before weaning age" to outlets like Petco, Petsmart and Petland. This is a tough but fair-minded revelation of how mass production of animals for food and other purposes results in cruelty that usually remains hidden from sight. Photos. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
As the authors state, the treatment of animals in modern America is full of contradictions. Although we lavish time, money, and love on our pets, we allow the animals raised for our consumption (either as food, product testers, or medical experiment subjects) to languish in sometimes appalling conditions. The authors' goal is to demystify these realities and show how the animal industries maximize profits and cut costs in ways that cause human and animal misery. In prose that deliberately avoids complicated ethical and philosophical reasoning but instead states the case for humane treatment of animals in basic language, the authors examine the meat industry, hunting, the textile industry, animal experimentation, the pet industry, and animals in entertainment. The heavily endnoted text explains the issues; quotes from both sides of the argument (though leaning heavily on the animal-welfare side); provides examples of abuse and exploitation; discusses the effects, both physical and mental, on both animals and humans; and concludes with summations of what has been and what can be done to alleviate animal suffering. A well-organized presentation of the animal-welfare argument. Bent, Nancy
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A comprehensive, up-to-date, passionate and above all, compassionate account by two people who are knowledgeable about animals, and even more important, love them. I am happy to recommend this book to the growing number of people who care deeply about animals." --Jeffrey Masson, author of The Pig Who Sang to the Moon, and Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras.

"Why Animals Matter isn't a good book, it's a great book! It's not only easy to read but also packed with useful and up-to-date information concerning the innumerable ways in which humans selfishly use animals, why animals need to be protected now more than ever, and how we all can play a role in this social movement by making humane choices that are good for animals and our one and only planet. I will recommend it to people worldwide." --Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado, Boulder; author of The Ten Trusts (with Jane Goodall) and The Emotional Lives of Animals, and editor of the Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships A Global Exploration Of Our Connections with Animals

"Why Animals Matter provides a readable, concise, and informed survey of the issues raised by industrial animal agriculture (including aquaculture, a rarely discussed issue); hunting (including "pest control"); the fur and leather industry; animal use in research; the pet industry; and animals used in entertainment (again rarely discussed). The authors do not simply present relevant data; they also enliven and individualize the reader's understanding by presenting case studies of individual animals rescued from these enterprises. This approach effectively touches the readers' hearts while educating their minds as to the need for reform in animal use. --Bernie Rollin, Bernard E. Rollin, author of Animal Rights and Human Morality and The Unheeded Cry: Animal Consciousness, Animal Pain and Science

Customer Reviews

Give a copy to everyone you know!
Our systematic abuse of non-human animals is so shocking and extensive that it is surprising how few people are even unaware of it. That's why this book is so indispensable. With this comprehensive survey of animal exploitation, Margo DeMello (co-author of Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature ) and Erin Williams -- both longtime activists -- seek to lift the veil of ignorance that sustains a cruel status quo. Product testing, breeding, medical experiments, hunting, blood sports, clothing (fur, wool, leather), and entertainment are all covered in heartbreaking detail. But it's the authors' discussion of animals used in food production that truly stands out, introducing readers to practices that some other animal rights books overlook, such as fishing and aquaculture, which they call "underwater factory farming" and observe is the fastest-growing segment of agribusiness.

With prose that is both vivid and insightful, DeMello and Williams invite the reader to reconsider the attitudes many of us hold about animals and the purpose we believe they have for existing. What would our world be like, they ask, if our choices expressed our compassion for the planet and those with whom we share it? "[G]iven what we now know about the lives of animals who die in order to provide us with our food, clothing, and entertainment choices -- the playfulness of pigs, the intelligence of whales, the family values of elephants, and the personal relationships of cows -- it's difficult to see how we can continue to make these personal choices. How do we proceed knowing how much a pig enjoys grunting to her friends, napping in a soft bed, splashing in a pond, and eating apples with the reality of what many female pigs' lives are like: trapped inside warehouses, confined in small stalls on concrete floors, with not a bit of straw to cushion herself, and separated from one's kin -- for her entire life?"

Buoyed with stories of animal survivors and their rescuers, "Why Animals Matter" offers some hope in a world of despair and is a compelling resource that is certain to widen our circle of compassion. Whether you're a long-time animal activist or you're just looking for an outstanding survey of humanity's offenses against our fellow creatures, this is an extremely reader-friendly guide that every compassionate person should read. Give a copy to everyone you know!

Mark Hawthorne, author of
Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism

What an eye opener
I am not an "Animal Rights Activist" but thought I was fairly well informed on animal exploitation issues. How wrong I was. This book grabs you tells you what you probably didn't want to know or think about when it comes to animal treatment behind the scenes but it also tells you in very simple terms how to make better and well informed choices to effect change.

This book obviously envolved hundreds of hours of research and eloquently supports the Authors point of view; "That Animals Matter". I am going to recommend this book to everyone I know.

Enlightening and cogently argued
I just finished reading this wonderful book and I feel compelled to encourage others to read it as well. Though I wasn't familiar with the authors beforehand, the subject matter is very significant to me and I decided to give it a chance. I'm really very glad I did. This is a very impressive first publication, in my opinion on par with some of the most well-known works on the subject. Although I appreciate and admire the recognized philosophical works concerning our moral responsibilities to animals, the straight-forward, common sense presentation of this book renders the subject matter somehow more tangible and accessible. Though very readable, the authors don't shy away from tackling difficult issues, several of which I haven't seen elucidated elsewhere. To the book's great benefit, one of the authors works for the Humane Society (presumably, the Humane Society of the United States) and undoubtedly brings significant personal knowledge to the table. I hope others choose to read this most enjoyable and important book, and I look forward to future contributions from these authors.