Product Description

Elizabeth Hess, a journalist and former art critic, walked into the Columbia Greene Animal Shelter in upstate New York looking for a new dog. Touched by the animals' plight and the dedication of the workers, she began to volunteer at the shelter on a regular basis. In Lost and Found, Hess brings you behind the scenes in this thorough examination of the day-to-day workings of the shelter. From the weekly adoption days, when families come to find a new dog or cat, to investigations of animal abuse and a thrilling puppy mill raid, we come to know both the animals and their caretakers on a deeply personal level. With a keen eye for detail and profound emotional insight, Hess dispels common myths about shelter animals and captures the boundless compassion and courage of the people who comfort and defend them, especially during their desperate efforts to find homes for the animals, lest they be put to sleep. A vivid portrait of a world many of us are blissfully unaware of, Lost and Found is "a must-read for every pet owner" (Seattle Times).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #546918 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-17
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.com
For some people, animal shelters seem dark, desperate places. All terrified barks and frightened hisses, the shelter is the last stop for many an animal on what has too often been a painful journey. For others, the shelter is a place of hope, where the perfect dog or cat waits to be adopted. In her time spent volunteering at the Columbia-Greene Humane Society, author Elizabeth Hess discovered that shelter life couldn't be defined in such simple terms. In this "subterranean animal culture," life is a "complex mix of people and animals, emotion and ideology ... where life and death decisions are made as regularly as coffee."

Hess, an arts journalist who has written for the Village Voice and the Washington Post among other publications, first visited the shelter to adopt a dog for her daughter. A "series of ramshackle buildings and a shabby trailer, surrounded by a few chickens and a couple of contented cats," the Columbia-Greene Humane Society grounds were humble at best. But what Hess found inside the shelter inspired her to write Lost and Found: Dogs, Cats, and Everyday Heroes at a Country Animal Shelter. From the dog kennels and the cat rooms to a puppy mill raid and rides in the shelter ambulance, Hess introduces innumerable animals and humans who will inspire, educate, and break your heart. With more than 20 million animals ending up in shelters each year in the United States alone, Hess's demand to rethink our relationships with domestic animals couldn't have come at a better time. Perceptive, well-written, and utterly moving, Lost and Found is a rare find indeed. --Stefanie Hargreaves

From Library Journal
Hess has volunteered for the Columbia-Greene Humane Society for several years. Combining her obvious passion for such work with the skills she has learned as art critic for the Village Voice, she has produced a solidly written book that takes readers directly into the animal shelter. Like most shelters, the one featured here is short on money, staff, and time while long on abused and abandoned animals. Hess helps readers understand how and why the people who work in this field-both paid and volunteer-do what they do. She captures the frustrations of animal welfare advocates-too often confused with animal rights advocates-who feel trapped cleaning up the mess that the uncaring or irresponsible create while facing accusations from no-kill advocates. Anyone questioning the local animal shelter should read this book for an excellent standard of comparison. Recommended for all animal welfare collections.?Alicia Graybill, Lincoln City Libs., NE
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The New York Times Book Review
Intelligent, warmhearted and deserving of attention.

Customer Reviews

Before you buy a pet, read this
The best place to get a pet is from a shelter, and if you read this book, you will learn why. I have always gotten my pets from shelters, but did not know the behind-the-scenes story until I read this (and a few others). Ms. Hess writes for the general reader, and is a bit less introspective than I would have liked, but her information is sound. In fact, I would recommend this book to teenagers, precisely because it is not too high-brow. Today's kids are tomorrow's pet owners, and it is important to educate them in the realities of pet overpopulation, puppy mills, and the fact that pets are not designer accessories, but living beings who require more than some kibble and water.

Insightful and thought provoking
I highly recommend this book to anyone considering a pet. It makes you think about what repercussions are possible if you obtain a pet on a whim and do not dedicate yourself to training and caring for it. It shows the results of our society's "throwaway" mentality, the lack of education on the effects of pet overpopulation and the way our declining economy has added to the problem by not allowing many citizens the money to afford proper pet care and sterilization.

This books shows a cross section of a typical animal shelter and the fact that there are many not so happy endings, mostly because of humans and their failure to do right by their pets.

A very realistic view of an animal shelter
I've volunteered at the animal shelter in my town for a few years now, but have never had quite as much insight as this book provided. I get the feeling the shelter in the book has a smaller volunteer base than the shelter I have dealt with based on the details they were willing to share with her. This was a very uplifting book that explained a lot about why shelters work the way they do (ie rules about who can adopt, what happens when they get lost pets, etc.). Unfortunately, it is most likely to be read by the people that already understand these rules and why they exist.