Advocates for Animals: An Inside Look at Some of the Extraordinary Efforts to End Animal Suffering

by Lori B Girshick

With over 65 percent of households having a pet, and Americans spending over $60 billion on them each year, it’s a proven statistic that Americans love animals. Public opinions consistently show we favor compassion for all animals. Animal welfare, rights, and protection is one of the most popular issue areas to which individual donors give, and is an area in which people working with rescue and nonprofit organizations are extremely passionate.

In Advocates for Animals, Lori Girshick not only provides a better understanding of the laws surrounding animal rights but looks at the nonprofit organizations and people who are making a huge difference in today’s growing animal protection community. These volunteers and organizations fill the gap in what laws, policies, practices, and services do not address for animal rights/protection. Through the personal reflections of 204 individuals who volunteer or work with animals in a wide range of circumstances we learn about their paths to involvement, what they do, what they hope to achieve, and how this has impacted their lives.

Many experts speak of the importance of protecting the rights of animals, and without human support, many animals face abuse, neglect, and suffering. Advocates for Animals invites you to join these efforts, enriching your own lives and living compassion in action toward animals.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

260 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2019

Reviews

[Lauren Read · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is just okay. To hear from different experiences with advocacy, I prefer an essay collection, whereas this format is the result of 200 surveys/ interviews, so the presentation seems choppy to me, what with large swaths devoted to qualitative presentation of survey answers (percentages and such, which would be better presented visually).

That the subjects include a minority of vegan people is a strange lot to work with, given they all work for the benefit of animals. At least the writer is vegan, and her sum-ups did declare the full truth of the matter and refer to speciesism.

If you want to read a variety of snippets from "animals lovers," you can easily enough enjoy this book, as I well did. It just isn't a favorite.

[moonglow · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dear friend, Lori, wrote this book (so yes, I am biased). Though the book is written like a textbook and on the dry side for me, I learned a lot about (or was reminded of) the ways animals are exploited and what many brave advocates are doing to counter this. I love animals and care for their welfare, but after reading this book, I realized that I have been too passive. The stories of the advocates in this book filled me with inspiration and ideas about how I can be a peaceful advocate and work to improve the lives of the other species that we share this planet with.