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The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them
The president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, the world’s largest animal protection organization, Wayne Pacelle brings us The Bond, a heartfelt, eye-opening exploration of the special bond between animals and humans. With the poignant insight of Animals Make Us Human and the shocking reality of Fast Food Nation—filled with history, valuable insights, and fascinating stories of the author’s experience in the field—The Bond is an important investigation into all the ways we can repair our broken bond with the animal kingdom and a thrilling chronicle of one man’s extraordinary contribution to that effort.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2011
95 people are currently reading
1807 people want to read
About the author
Wayne Pacelle
11 books31 followersDuring his 17 years with the Humane Society of the United States, including seven as president and CEO, Wayne Pacelle has played a leading role in transforming the HSUS, the nations largest animal protection charity, into a dynamic public force and voice for all animals. Taking a special interest in law reform, he has been the leading strategist for more than a score of successful ballot initiatives that outlawed cockfighting, cruel factory farming practices, bear baiting, negligent puppy mill operations and a host of other inhumane practices. Pacelle is the author of the bestselling book The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them. He has been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, and has appeared on almost all of the major network television programsfrom 60 Minutes to the News Hour with Jim Lehrer. In 2008, The Los Angeles Times reported, Pacelle has retooled a venerable organization seen as a mild-mannered protector of dogs and cats into an aggressive interest group... Pacelle was named one of NonProfit Times Executives of the Year in 2005 for his leadership in responding to the Hurricane Katrina crisis. Pacelle received his B.A. in History and Studies in the Environment from Yale University in 1987. "
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April 21, 2011
Wow, what a great book. To be honest, I was expecting The Bond to be something along the lines of the book Why Animals Matter--an “Animal Protection 101” primer on the issues that wouldn’t be as useful to seasoned advocates. I’m pleased to report that my first impression was wrong, and longtime animal advocates will find as much valuable material in The Bond as newcomers to the issues.
Pacelle begins with an overview of the history of the human-animal bond, a connection that stretches back to the dawn of humanity. And while early humans relied on animals for food, clothing, and other necessities, the practice of pet-keeping dates back nearly as far. Pacelle writes:
Critics of today’s animal-protection movement often argue that animal welfare is ultimately a trivial matter—the product of effete modern sensibilities. But the truth is that our relationship with animals has always been profoundly important.
And while organized activism for animals may be somewhat newer, it too has a long pedigree that didn’t begin with a PETA member in a bunny suit:
[Henry] Bergh and [George] Angell , in particular, focused on all cruelties, from inhumane transportation and slaughter of livestock, to pigeon shoots, animal fighting, and vivisection. Congress’s first animal protection law, enacted in 1873, actually protected farm animals.
And Pacelle gives us historical insight on how we got into the current mess we’re in regards to animal welfare:
In the United Kingdom, Parliament regulated vivisection in 1876, but despite parallel efforts by American advocates, the US Congress did not follow, and animal experimentation went largely unregulated until Congress enacted the federal Animal Welfare Act nearly a century later. The result of these long-ago failures by Congress was to leave a free-for-all in animal experimentation and agriculture...So many of the animal-welfare controversies of our day could have been avoided had there only been some basic moral framework for the conduct of these industries, put in place before new and ever more severe cruelties were allowed to become the norm.
Pacelle’s working relationship with infamous former dogfighter Michael Vick has sparked confusion and controversy among HSUS supporters, as well as cynical, manufactured outrage from anti-animal propaganda groups. Pacelle’s well thought-out chapter on this subject will give readers insight into this choice, even if they ultimately disagree with it.
At one point in their prison visiting-room discussion, Vick inconceivably states he loved his fighting dogs. Pacelle responds:
“Mike, I think that’s admiration, in some narrow sense. But that’s not love. You don’t hurt somebody or some animal you love. You may be drawn to animals and you may have an interest in them. But love’s more than admiration and fascination. It’s about care and affection.”
Thankfully, Pacelle has the guts to take his reasoning beyond Vick’s seemingly bizarre statement. It’s a common thing for dog fighters and cockfighters to profess themselves animal lovers and talk of their admiration for their animals’ strength and courage in the pit. And guess what? Sport hunters, too, share this same mindset. Hunters decorate their homes and vehicles with images of whitetail bucks, turkeys, and ducks. They speak of their sincere love for the animals they pierce with bullets and arrows.
The way of thinking among animal fighters reminded me of the same mindset I’ve come across elsewhere. ...[Vick] was one of many people who abused animals while telling themselves they loved them.
Animal fighting has long been a focal point of the HSUS, and we need to be reminded just how much work it took for this cruelty to become part of the national agenda. In comparing the situation between today and the year 1975:
Dogfighting was banned in all fifty states back in 1975...but it was not a felony anywhere. There were no felony cockfighting laws, either, and cockfighting was legal in more than a half-dozen states. Very few humane organizations focused on animal fighting, and law enforcement generally did not consider this misdemeanor offense worthy of their attention.
We learn that the cockfighting subset has far more lobbying power than one might imagine. As with any animal industry, even illegal ones, there’s quite a bit of money behind it. Cockfighters have their own magazines and mail order services where they can buy things such as a stimulant called “Pure Aggression” for fighting roosters.
Puppy mills are another major issue for HSUS. We learn that one of the major blockers of puppy mill reform (and this will be a surprise for some) is the American Kennel Club, the organization that bills itself as “the dog’s champion.” Once you close this book, you’ll realize what a farce that motto truly is.
Pacelle profiles an esteemed dog breeder and show judge, Ted Paul, who came out publicly in support of an Oregon bill to reform puppy mills, the often hideously neglectful large scale commercial breeding facilities.
After [Paul] testified, citing his nearly fifty years in the world of purebred dogs, he was deemed a “traitor,” with many fellow breeders calling for his “suspension” from the show judge world...The bill was enacted, and Ted’s offense was that he was, as a dog breeder, actively supporting HSUS-backed legislation to crack down on puppy mills. Since the hearing he’s basically been blackballed as a judge, and members of the dog fancy promised they would not show their dogs if Ted was in the chair.
And what honorable practices was this evil bill curtailing?
The measure stipulated that dogs used for commercial breeding purposes not be kept in cages to small for them, that the cages not be stacked, and that they have solid flooring rather than wire. The dogs had to be let out for exercise for one hour a day, and they had to be out of the cage when their waste was cleaned, which also had to happen once a day.
(The horror!) One of the AKC’s favorite arguments is that puppy mills are “USDA inspected,” so they don’t need any further legal reforms. There’s just one problem:
Under the federal Animal Welfare Act, the USDA is supposed to conduct inspections of large, licensed commercial breeders. It turns out that more than half of the ten thousand mills are not required to get a license and thus are not inspected by USDA at all. A loophole in the regulations exempts breeders if they sell dogs directly to consumers right from the farm or through a website, rather than selling them through a pet store, and thousands of operators have been quick to exploit this loophole.
Pacelle concludes:
If you think the NRA has mastered the “slippery slope” argument, you ought to hear the executives and lobbyists at the AKC.
So much for the “dog’s champion.”
Speaking of the NRA, Pacelle devotes another chapter to the practices of sport and trophy hunting. He clarifies the policies of his organization:
At HSUS, we have not campaigned against all forms of sport hunting in Alaska or any other part of the country. Despite the overblown claims of the NRA and other prohunting organizations that we are working to ban it all, we’ve largely asked hunters to hold themselves, at the very least, to their own professed standards of conduct....These are standards that no politically influential hunting organization advocates today—indeed, none of these groups asks its members to abide by any serious ethical code of conduct. On the contrary, the politically active hunting groups are the ones who promote the worst practices and resist any restraints at all.
So, while Pacelle himself may personally oppose sport hunting, the HSUS does not work against all hunting, but rather the most egregious practices such as canned hunting. (This actually may be a disappointment for some AR advocates.) Yet trying to reform even canned hunting (hunters use the more benign term “high-fence hunting”) is tough enough:
Operators provide a price list of native and exotic species, and hunters shoot the animals in a “no kill, no pay” arrangement, with the outcome certain. Somehow this doesn’t offend the hunting lobby’s “sportsmanship” sensibilities. The Safari Club International even bestows “hunting achievement” awards and “Grand Slam” prizes on hunters who shoot animals trapped inside fences. In fact, one such hunting award, “Introduced Trophy Game Animals of North America,” is designed to send customers a-runnin’ to these fenced-in hunting ranches.
Not to be outdone, the NRA backed the infamous Hegins Pigeon Shoot:
[T]he NRA treated any limitation on shooting sports or hunting as a first step toward banning them all. “Pigeon shooting is an historic and legitimate activity steeped in tradition with many participants throughout the Commonwealth and around the world,” read an NRA alert to its members. “For over one hundred years, shoots have been held in Pennsylvania by law-abiding, ethical shooting enthusiasts, hunters, and sportsmen who would not tolerate an activity that would constitute cruelty to animals.
If you have the stomach for it, read about these ethical shooting enthusiasts, hunters, and sportsmen who do not tolerate cruelty to animals: http://www.dickdestiny.com/blog/2006/...
If you were to take a survey of NRA members, most would probably favor an end to pigeon shoots. The group’s leaders, though, rally members by playing the antigun, antihunting card. “National ‘animal rights’ extremist groups, led by the Humane Society of the United States, have organized and funded efforts in Pennsylvania and around the country to ban this longstanding traditional shooting sport,” wrote the NRA to it’s members. “Make no mistake, this isn’t just about banning pigeon shooting, but banning all hunting species by species.”
(Gotta love it when the NRA calls some other group “extremist.” Perhaps it should rename itself the National Pot & Kettle Association.) In other adventures:
[NRA] fought off an effort in Congress to crack down on the trade in bear gallbladders, which poachers sell into the traditional Chinese medicine market for thousands of dollars apiece—a truly vile practice that has nothing to do with hunting.
(They’ve also, in various states, blocked measures related to cockfighting and puppy mills.) I will say thank you, Mr. Pacelle, for keeping your look at sport hunting and the NRA on-issue and not turning it into a gun control debate, which I’ve unfortunately seen in other works of animal advocacy. The widespread popularity of firearms and shooting is growing by leaps and bounds in all segments of American society—including individuals who oppose hunting--so there’s no need to alienate people.
If the AKC’s anti-animal positions came as a surprise, some readers may be even more shocked to know that the American Veterinary Medical Association is also an opponent of animal welfare reforms. In the chapter on factory farming, we learn of the AVMA’s reaction to the prestigious Pew Commission’s report on industrial agriculture:
In particular, the AVMA attacked the [Pew] commission’s recommendations to phase out nontherapeutic use of antibiotics on farm animals and slammed the recommendation that the intensive confinement of laying hens, breeding sows, and other animals be phased out. ... The best-known public health organizations in the country—including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Public Health Association—have urged the Congress to act before it’s too late by banning non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics on farms. Only one major medical group opposes this public health reform, and that’s the AVMA.
Pacelle explains the method behind the madness:
When there is no large, organized industry with a professional veterinary presence, as on the issue of animal fighting, the AVMA often takes the proanimal position. But if vets are in the employ of a legal and established animal-use industry, they can usually be counted on to endorse the corporate line. ...This unnatural alignment of interests helps explain the long list of positions shared by the AVMA and agribusiness, and why the veterinary association is so deeply estranged from widely accepted animal-welfare principles.
Ah, it all makes sense now.
In addition to familiar faces like the NRA, AKC, and AVMA, the animal use industries have also formed countless splinter groups to promote their interests. Pacelle notes that today’s anti-animal PR folks are more sophisticated than in years past:
But as the years passed and the momentum for reform increased, the dismissive tone gave way to a more nuanced rebuttal, and brusque denials gave way to comforting euphemisms. Realizing the general public believed animals should be treated humanely, the savvier spokesmen for industry began arguing that any business using animals had an interest in their welfare...They drew a distinction between “animal welfare,” which they professed to support, and “animal rights.” Giving their rhetoric a makeover, factory farmers suddenly became advocates of “science-based animal production,” hunters suddenly did less killing and more “harvesting,” and trappers and sealers were now the exemplars of the “sustainable use” of wildlife.
He also observes:
It used to be [opponents] formed groups with unambiguous names like Putting People First, which really meant putting people first, second, and third, and relegating animals to the absolute bottom of the heap after people had their way with them. But names like that went out with the blunt, aggressive rhetoric we used to hear. Nowadays, the casual observer of animal-welfare controversies has a little more trouble figuring out just who the opponents of reform are. ... When the whole mission of you group is to trap, bait, shoot, fight, confine, or otherwise torment animals, it’s hard to find a name with just the right ring. ... [W]hen your opponents’ strategy is to look and sound as much like you as possible, and wrap themselves in the language of animal protection, you know you’re making progress.
I just wish Pacelle would have spent more time exposing the shadiness behind the Center for Consumer Freedom, which is currently the main architect behind attacks on the HSUS and the author himself.
Although it may seem odd, I tend not to like the “looking to the future” final chapter of most animal advocacy books. I think they tend to be over-optimistic and unrealistic. However, Pacelle excels in this arena too. He outlines suggestions for building a humane economy within the framework we already have. Take a look at his sharp-witted rebuttal to factory farming interests:
And last of all are corporate farmers in any position to complain about things changing too fast. They talk as if their own production practices are static, as if they cannot adjust to changing circumstances in the marketplace and adopt more humane practices. What they overlook is the incredible speed with which they changed to new and harsher ways of industrialized production—to the “new agriculture” with mass confinement and all of its other merciless innovations. The changes in that sector would have been almost unthinkable to farmers fifty years ago, but now they are the standard. If the industry can demonstrate that kind of movement in one direction is so little time, they can turn in the other direction too. Factory farming is the creation of human resourcefulness detached from conscience. What innovations in agriculture might come about by human resourcefulness guided by conscience?
Animal advocates will also learn about hopeful developments they may have missed:
The most hopeful sign came with a 2007 report by the US National Academy of Sciences...That report laid out a long-term proposal for shifting largely, if not entirely, to nonanimal testing methods for chemicals, drugs, and consumer products. The new approach, drawn from the deliberations of an expert committee, relies on modern advances in biology and technology and emphasizes human—rather than animal—biology.
Pacelle begins with an overview of the history of the human-animal bond, a connection that stretches back to the dawn of humanity. And while early humans relied on animals for food, clothing, and other necessities, the practice of pet-keeping dates back nearly as far. Pacelle writes:
Critics of today’s animal-protection movement often argue that animal welfare is ultimately a trivial matter—the product of effete modern sensibilities. But the truth is that our relationship with animals has always been profoundly important.
And while organized activism for animals may be somewhat newer, it too has a long pedigree that didn’t begin with a PETA member in a bunny suit:
[Henry] Bergh and [George] Angell , in particular, focused on all cruelties, from inhumane transportation and slaughter of livestock, to pigeon shoots, animal fighting, and vivisection. Congress’s first animal protection law, enacted in 1873, actually protected farm animals.
And Pacelle gives us historical insight on how we got into the current mess we’re in regards to animal welfare:
In the United Kingdom, Parliament regulated vivisection in 1876, but despite parallel efforts by American advocates, the US Congress did not follow, and animal experimentation went largely unregulated until Congress enacted the federal Animal Welfare Act nearly a century later. The result of these long-ago failures by Congress was to leave a free-for-all in animal experimentation and agriculture...So many of the animal-welfare controversies of our day could have been avoided had there only been some basic moral framework for the conduct of these industries, put in place before new and ever more severe cruelties were allowed to become the norm.
Pacelle’s working relationship with infamous former dogfighter Michael Vick has sparked confusion and controversy among HSUS supporters, as well as cynical, manufactured outrage from anti-animal propaganda groups. Pacelle’s well thought-out chapter on this subject will give readers insight into this choice, even if they ultimately disagree with it.
At one point in their prison visiting-room discussion, Vick inconceivably states he loved his fighting dogs. Pacelle responds:
“Mike, I think that’s admiration, in some narrow sense. But that’s not love. You don’t hurt somebody or some animal you love. You may be drawn to animals and you may have an interest in them. But love’s more than admiration and fascination. It’s about care and affection.”
Thankfully, Pacelle has the guts to take his reasoning beyond Vick’s seemingly bizarre statement. It’s a common thing for dog fighters and cockfighters to profess themselves animal lovers and talk of their admiration for their animals’ strength and courage in the pit. And guess what? Sport hunters, too, share this same mindset. Hunters decorate their homes and vehicles with images of whitetail bucks, turkeys, and ducks. They speak of their sincere love for the animals they pierce with bullets and arrows.
The way of thinking among animal fighters reminded me of the same mindset I’ve come across elsewhere. ...[Vick] was one of many people who abused animals while telling themselves they loved them.
Animal fighting has long been a focal point of the HSUS, and we need to be reminded just how much work it took for this cruelty to become part of the national agenda. In comparing the situation between today and the year 1975:
Dogfighting was banned in all fifty states back in 1975...but it was not a felony anywhere. There were no felony cockfighting laws, either, and cockfighting was legal in more than a half-dozen states. Very few humane organizations focused on animal fighting, and law enforcement generally did not consider this misdemeanor offense worthy of their attention.
We learn that the cockfighting subset has far more lobbying power than one might imagine. As with any animal industry, even illegal ones, there’s quite a bit of money behind it. Cockfighters have their own magazines and mail order services where they can buy things such as a stimulant called “Pure Aggression” for fighting roosters.
Puppy mills are another major issue for HSUS. We learn that one of the major blockers of puppy mill reform (and this will be a surprise for some) is the American Kennel Club, the organization that bills itself as “the dog’s champion.” Once you close this book, you’ll realize what a farce that motto truly is.
Pacelle profiles an esteemed dog breeder and show judge, Ted Paul, who came out publicly in support of an Oregon bill to reform puppy mills, the often hideously neglectful large scale commercial breeding facilities.
After [Paul] testified, citing his nearly fifty years in the world of purebred dogs, he was deemed a “traitor,” with many fellow breeders calling for his “suspension” from the show judge world...The bill was enacted, and Ted’s offense was that he was, as a dog breeder, actively supporting HSUS-backed legislation to crack down on puppy mills. Since the hearing he’s basically been blackballed as a judge, and members of the dog fancy promised they would not show their dogs if Ted was in the chair.
And what honorable practices was this evil bill curtailing?
The measure stipulated that dogs used for commercial breeding purposes not be kept in cages to small for them, that the cages not be stacked, and that they have solid flooring rather than wire. The dogs had to be let out for exercise for one hour a day, and they had to be out of the cage when their waste was cleaned, which also had to happen once a day.
(The horror!) One of the AKC’s favorite arguments is that puppy mills are “USDA inspected,” so they don’t need any further legal reforms. There’s just one problem:
Under the federal Animal Welfare Act, the USDA is supposed to conduct inspections of large, licensed commercial breeders. It turns out that more than half of the ten thousand mills are not required to get a license and thus are not inspected by USDA at all. A loophole in the regulations exempts breeders if they sell dogs directly to consumers right from the farm or through a website, rather than selling them through a pet store, and thousands of operators have been quick to exploit this loophole.
Pacelle concludes:
If you think the NRA has mastered the “slippery slope” argument, you ought to hear the executives and lobbyists at the AKC.
So much for the “dog’s champion.”
Speaking of the NRA, Pacelle devotes another chapter to the practices of sport and trophy hunting. He clarifies the policies of his organization:
At HSUS, we have not campaigned against all forms of sport hunting in Alaska or any other part of the country. Despite the overblown claims of the NRA and other prohunting organizations that we are working to ban it all, we’ve largely asked hunters to hold themselves, at the very least, to their own professed standards of conduct....These are standards that no politically influential hunting organization advocates today—indeed, none of these groups asks its members to abide by any serious ethical code of conduct. On the contrary, the politically active hunting groups are the ones who promote the worst practices and resist any restraints at all.
So, while Pacelle himself may personally oppose sport hunting, the HSUS does not work against all hunting, but rather the most egregious practices such as canned hunting. (This actually may be a disappointment for some AR advocates.) Yet trying to reform even canned hunting (hunters use the more benign term “high-fence hunting”) is tough enough:
Operators provide a price list of native and exotic species, and hunters shoot the animals in a “no kill, no pay” arrangement, with the outcome certain. Somehow this doesn’t offend the hunting lobby’s “sportsmanship” sensibilities. The Safari Club International even bestows “hunting achievement” awards and “Grand Slam” prizes on hunters who shoot animals trapped inside fences. In fact, one such hunting award, “Introduced Trophy Game Animals of North America,” is designed to send customers a-runnin’ to these fenced-in hunting ranches.
Not to be outdone, the NRA backed the infamous Hegins Pigeon Shoot:
[T]he NRA treated any limitation on shooting sports or hunting as a first step toward banning them all. “Pigeon shooting is an historic and legitimate activity steeped in tradition with many participants throughout the Commonwealth and around the world,” read an NRA alert to its members. “For over one hundred years, shoots have been held in Pennsylvania by law-abiding, ethical shooting enthusiasts, hunters, and sportsmen who would not tolerate an activity that would constitute cruelty to animals.
If you have the stomach for it, read about these ethical shooting enthusiasts, hunters, and sportsmen who do not tolerate cruelty to animals: http://www.dickdestiny.com/blog/2006/...
If you were to take a survey of NRA members, most would probably favor an end to pigeon shoots. The group’s leaders, though, rally members by playing the antigun, antihunting card. “National ‘animal rights’ extremist groups, led by the Humane Society of the United States, have organized and funded efforts in Pennsylvania and around the country to ban this longstanding traditional shooting sport,” wrote the NRA to it’s members. “Make no mistake, this isn’t just about banning pigeon shooting, but banning all hunting species by species.”
(Gotta love it when the NRA calls some other group “extremist.” Perhaps it should rename itself the National Pot & Kettle Association.) In other adventures:
[NRA] fought off an effort in Congress to crack down on the trade in bear gallbladders, which poachers sell into the traditional Chinese medicine market for thousands of dollars apiece—a truly vile practice that has nothing to do with hunting.
(They’ve also, in various states, blocked measures related to cockfighting and puppy mills.) I will say thank you, Mr. Pacelle, for keeping your look at sport hunting and the NRA on-issue and not turning it into a gun control debate, which I’ve unfortunately seen in other works of animal advocacy. The widespread popularity of firearms and shooting is growing by leaps and bounds in all segments of American society—including individuals who oppose hunting--so there’s no need to alienate people.
If the AKC’s anti-animal positions came as a surprise, some readers may be even more shocked to know that the American Veterinary Medical Association is also an opponent of animal welfare reforms. In the chapter on factory farming, we learn of the AVMA’s reaction to the prestigious Pew Commission’s report on industrial agriculture:
In particular, the AVMA attacked the [Pew] commission’s recommendations to phase out nontherapeutic use of antibiotics on farm animals and slammed the recommendation that the intensive confinement of laying hens, breeding sows, and other animals be phased out. ... The best-known public health organizations in the country—including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Public Health Association—have urged the Congress to act before it’s too late by banning non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics on farms. Only one major medical group opposes this public health reform, and that’s the AVMA.
Pacelle explains the method behind the madness:
When there is no large, organized industry with a professional veterinary presence, as on the issue of animal fighting, the AVMA often takes the proanimal position. But if vets are in the employ of a legal and established animal-use industry, they can usually be counted on to endorse the corporate line. ...This unnatural alignment of interests helps explain the long list of positions shared by the AVMA and agribusiness, and why the veterinary association is so deeply estranged from widely accepted animal-welfare principles.
Ah, it all makes sense now.
In addition to familiar faces like the NRA, AKC, and AVMA, the animal use industries have also formed countless splinter groups to promote their interests. Pacelle notes that today’s anti-animal PR folks are more sophisticated than in years past:
But as the years passed and the momentum for reform increased, the dismissive tone gave way to a more nuanced rebuttal, and brusque denials gave way to comforting euphemisms. Realizing the general public believed animals should be treated humanely, the savvier spokesmen for industry began arguing that any business using animals had an interest in their welfare...They drew a distinction between “animal welfare,” which they professed to support, and “animal rights.” Giving their rhetoric a makeover, factory farmers suddenly became advocates of “science-based animal production,” hunters suddenly did less killing and more “harvesting,” and trappers and sealers were now the exemplars of the “sustainable use” of wildlife.
He also observes:
It used to be [opponents] formed groups with unambiguous names like Putting People First, which really meant putting people first, second, and third, and relegating animals to the absolute bottom of the heap after people had their way with them. But names like that went out with the blunt, aggressive rhetoric we used to hear. Nowadays, the casual observer of animal-welfare controversies has a little more trouble figuring out just who the opponents of reform are. ... When the whole mission of you group is to trap, bait, shoot, fight, confine, or otherwise torment animals, it’s hard to find a name with just the right ring. ... [W]hen your opponents’ strategy is to look and sound as much like you as possible, and wrap themselves in the language of animal protection, you know you’re making progress.
I just wish Pacelle would have spent more time exposing the shadiness behind the Center for Consumer Freedom, which is currently the main architect behind attacks on the HSUS and the author himself.
Although it may seem odd, I tend not to like the “looking to the future” final chapter of most animal advocacy books. I think they tend to be over-optimistic and unrealistic. However, Pacelle excels in this arena too. He outlines suggestions for building a humane economy within the framework we already have. Take a look at his sharp-witted rebuttal to factory farming interests:
And last of all are corporate farmers in any position to complain about things changing too fast. They talk as if their own production practices are static, as if they cannot adjust to changing circumstances in the marketplace and adopt more humane practices. What they overlook is the incredible speed with which they changed to new and harsher ways of industrialized production—to the “new agriculture” with mass confinement and all of its other merciless innovations. The changes in that sector would have been almost unthinkable to farmers fifty years ago, but now they are the standard. If the industry can demonstrate that kind of movement in one direction is so little time, they can turn in the other direction too. Factory farming is the creation of human resourcefulness detached from conscience. What innovations in agriculture might come about by human resourcefulness guided by conscience?
Animal advocates will also learn about hopeful developments they may have missed:
The most hopeful sign came with a 2007 report by the US National Academy of Sciences...That report laid out a long-term proposal for shifting largely, if not entirely, to nonanimal testing methods for chemicals, drugs, and consumer products. The new approach, drawn from the deliberations of an expert committee, relies on modern advances in biology and technology and emphasizes human—rather than animal—biology.
May 31, 2011
If you are already knowledgable about and active in the animal welfare movement, there's not much in this book that will be news to you. This is, however, an excellent introduction and overview of animal welfare history and issues. A great title for high school library collections.
September 11, 2011
This book really opened my eyes to a lot of animal welfare issues going on in the United States. I had been considering going vegetarian for several years, and this book gave me the push I needed to finally take the plunge.
I also was expecting this book to mainly be about the history of human relationships with companion animals. To my surprise, there was much, much more included in the book, but I was not upset by this. I enjoyed learning more about issues I had no idea about, such as hunting in the United States, conservation efforts, and sealing in Canada.
While the book was written by the President of the ASCPA, I didn't feel that the book was too slanted in their direction or overly touting their ideals and accomplishments. I thought it was interesting and informative to read about how politics plays into so many of these issues, and really how the opinions of so few can impact the lives of millions of people and animals.
Although I started this book intending on learning more about how to work with troubled dogs (being that I have one!) I ended up learning a lot more, and ended up making some life changes I feel good about. I know not everyone will feel that way about this book, but I would definitely recommend it and suggest doing continuing research about issues that interest you the most.
I also was expecting this book to mainly be about the history of human relationships with companion animals. To my surprise, there was much, much more included in the book, but I was not upset by this. I enjoyed learning more about issues I had no idea about, such as hunting in the United States, conservation efforts, and sealing in Canada.
While the book was written by the President of the ASCPA, I didn't feel that the book was too slanted in their direction or overly touting their ideals and accomplishments. I thought it was interesting and informative to read about how politics plays into so many of these issues, and really how the opinions of so few can impact the lives of millions of people and animals.
Although I started this book intending on learning more about how to work with troubled dogs (being that I have one!) I ended up learning a lot more, and ended up making some life changes I feel good about. I know not everyone will feel that way about this book, but I would definitely recommend it and suggest doing continuing research about issues that interest you the most.
October 14, 2011
The author of THE BOND: OUR KINSHIP WITH ANIMALS, OUR CALL TO DEFEND THEM is Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). If you’ve ever checked his articles on www.hsus.org or on his Facebook page, you already know about his passion for animal issues. His concerns on the Internet are obvious, too, in this book with its theme of human responsibility to animals.
THE BOND begins with description of the bond we have had with animals through the ages. From there, Pacelle covers so much, but always there is this: because of our bond with animals, we have a responsibility to protect them.
As anyone who owns a dog or cat knows, animals have feelings, they can be happy and sad. But through the years, says Pacelle, many humans have not believed that and so have justified their mistreatment of animals. So he devotes part of his book to showing us proof that animals do have feelings. And if we know they have feelings, he says, we know that animals aren’t just things, and we have a responsibility to protect these defenseless creatures.
That goes for all animals, Pacelle says. While many of us think of HSUS as advocates for dogs and cats, in reality, HSUS is just as concerned about other animals, such as chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs, animals that are big business when they exist for human consumption.
Through his first-hand experiences with these animals’ circumstances, Pacelle describes the horrid conditions in which they live and die. The point of these stories that are so difficult to read is, we have a bond with these animals, too, and so a responsibility to know they do not live in misery. This is regardless of whether we eat eggs or meat.
Of course, it’s easiest for us to see and feel our bond with our pets. Although Pacelle doesn’t have to convince us of that, he does describe the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when so many people were forced to leave their pets behind when they left home for shelter. Because of their bond with these animals, some people refused to leave their homes without their pets, others went to great lengths to locate their pets afterward. Therefore, government has recognized our bond with our pets and now is acting on the necessity for disaster preparedness in the future to include these animals.
Subsequent chapters cover examples of horrible pet abuse we probably were not aware of, abuse our own pets may have suffered before they came to us. The most surprising to me was Pacelle’s indictment of the American Kennel Club (AKC). They seem more interested in the money they get when they grant AKC certification to puppies than in knowing how those puppies are living and whether they are healthy. So a puppy mill can sell a puppy with AKC certification, and that doesn’t mean anything other than AKC knows the lineage is “pure,” i.e., the dogs are all of the same breed. Of course, that means there’s probably been some inbreeding and, therefore, horrible genetic problems exist and are perpetuated. The unsuspecting buyer doesn’t know that their puppy came from a puppy mill. Also, because AKC makes money certifying these puppies, AKC refuses to back any plan to base judging in dog shows on dogs’ health and well being.
My favorite chapter gave examples of statements people make to justify ignoring their bond with animals and doing nothing to help them. He gives simple arguments we can make when we are confronted with this. For example, if you don’t eat meat because of the abuses to cows by big agribusiness, when someone says, “If you won’t eat meat, then you shouldn’t wear leather shoes.” Argument: “You’re making a case for doing nothing because I can’t do everything.”
For those who care about animals, sometimes this book is difficult to read because of all the real-life examples of abuses to animals. If this is you, just take a break between chapters. But do read it.
This is such an important book! Everyone should read it. We all need to know what Pacelle emphasizes: we’ve always had a bond with all animals, so we have a responsibility to see that they are not abused and to do what we can to discourage abuse.
THE BOND begins with description of the bond we have had with animals through the ages. From there, Pacelle covers so much, but always there is this: because of our bond with animals, we have a responsibility to protect them.
As anyone who owns a dog or cat knows, animals have feelings, they can be happy and sad. But through the years, says Pacelle, many humans have not believed that and so have justified their mistreatment of animals. So he devotes part of his book to showing us proof that animals do have feelings. And if we know they have feelings, he says, we know that animals aren’t just things, and we have a responsibility to protect these defenseless creatures.
That goes for all animals, Pacelle says. While many of us think of HSUS as advocates for dogs and cats, in reality, HSUS is just as concerned about other animals, such as chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs, animals that are big business when they exist for human consumption.
Through his first-hand experiences with these animals’ circumstances, Pacelle describes the horrid conditions in which they live and die. The point of these stories that are so difficult to read is, we have a bond with these animals, too, and so a responsibility to know they do not live in misery. This is regardless of whether we eat eggs or meat.
Of course, it’s easiest for us to see and feel our bond with our pets. Although Pacelle doesn’t have to convince us of that, he does describe the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when so many people were forced to leave their pets behind when they left home for shelter. Because of their bond with these animals, some people refused to leave their homes without their pets, others went to great lengths to locate their pets afterward. Therefore, government has recognized our bond with our pets and now is acting on the necessity for disaster preparedness in the future to include these animals.
Subsequent chapters cover examples of horrible pet abuse we probably were not aware of, abuse our own pets may have suffered before they came to us. The most surprising to me was Pacelle’s indictment of the American Kennel Club (AKC). They seem more interested in the money they get when they grant AKC certification to puppies than in knowing how those puppies are living and whether they are healthy. So a puppy mill can sell a puppy with AKC certification, and that doesn’t mean anything other than AKC knows the lineage is “pure,” i.e., the dogs are all of the same breed. Of course, that means there’s probably been some inbreeding and, therefore, horrible genetic problems exist and are perpetuated. The unsuspecting buyer doesn’t know that their puppy came from a puppy mill. Also, because AKC makes money certifying these puppies, AKC refuses to back any plan to base judging in dog shows on dogs’ health and well being.
My favorite chapter gave examples of statements people make to justify ignoring their bond with animals and doing nothing to help them. He gives simple arguments we can make when we are confronted with this. For example, if you don’t eat meat because of the abuses to cows by big agribusiness, when someone says, “If you won’t eat meat, then you shouldn’t wear leather shoes.” Argument: “You’re making a case for doing nothing because I can’t do everything.”
For those who care about animals, sometimes this book is difficult to read because of all the real-life examples of abuses to animals. If this is you, just take a break between chapters. But do read it.
This is such an important book! Everyone should read it. We all need to know what Pacelle emphasizes: we’ve always had a bond with all animals, so we have a responsibility to see that they are not abused and to do what we can to discourage abuse.
September 11, 2012
From its deceptive cover, to the ideals presented within said cover, Pacelle’s debut non-fiction book is sure to spark a lot of conversation amongst those who read it. The cover (a young boy hugging an older dog), and the title led me - and apparently many others - to expect a book with a more historic slant, cataloguing the development of the relationship between animals and humanity. Instead, a more apt cover art would simply be Mr. Pacelle’s author photo, perhaps in front of the headquarters of the Humane Society. Or in front of a slaughterhouse. The majority of animal stories contained here are nothing more than depressing. This is a political work, not scientific in any way. There is a historical angle, but it is more in line with a memoir’s historical angle as Pacelle relays the successes and setbacks of the Humane Society during Pacelle’s tenure there. As a memoirist, Pacelle does not come off as very sympathetic, either. In many instances he appears to be quite the elitist. And while it is evident that he attempted to be as inoffensive as possible, he may have tried too hard - because the end result in many places is an assortment of total ambivalence, sentences completely contradictory to earlier statements and thinly veiled offensive tones.
So while I was overall quite disappointed, especially since I purchased this in hard cover - at least the proceeds go to the Humane Society, so I don’t completely regret my purchase.
October 23, 2017
My main complaint with this book would be in how it is marketed—primarily as a focus on the human-animal bond. This would be an incorrect assumption, as the namesake bond only plays a very small role in the very beginning. The real focus of the book is the many awful ways animals are mistreated and harmed at the hands of humans. These are certainly very important topics and worthy of sharing with others in the attempt to bring more attention and action in defense of animals. It’s just when one picks up a book titled “The Bond” with a picture of a young child hugging a dog on the cover, one is not expecting to read about baby seals being clubbed to death. It’s a good and important book, and I’d encourage others to read it, but it would be better if people went in knowing what they were in for.
August 26, 2011
I admit not having investigated beforehand either the content or the author, so part of my disappointment with this book is my own fault. I hoped it would be about the incredible bond between humans and animals; that is, after all, what the title implies and the cover picture (a child hugging a dog) supports. While what I read of the book did include a few heart-warming tales (one about dolphins is especially nice) the majority of the book was aimed at two things: the protection of animals (a noble goal) and the actions of the author on behalf of animals. While I think it's great to protect animals, I was so disappointed in the depressing, agenda-driven turn the book took that I couldn't finish it. This book just didn't work for me.
September 30, 2011
Some interesting facts along the way, such as, We are drawn to vistas because our ancestors surveyed the landscape for enemies of hunting possibilities. We like the sound and sight of running water because our ancestors knew it meant clean water to drink.
If we keep adding domestic animals, we keep depleting wild animals. It's a zero sum game. It needs to stop. That means have our pets spayed or neutered. Change our eating habits.
The book basically sums up all of the animal rights issues in the US. I love animals. They deserve to live better lives than we give them. We all need to minimize our impact on our environment.
If we keep adding domestic animals, we keep depleting wild animals. It's a zero sum game. It needs to stop. That means have our pets spayed or neutered. Change our eating habits.
The book basically sums up all of the animal rights issues in the US. I love animals. They deserve to live better lives than we give them. We all need to minimize our impact on our environment.
February 26, 2014
Should be required reading for all people who eat food. :)
April 9, 2011
In The Bond, Wayne Pacelle delivers a systematic analysis of our treatment of animals from those that we keep as pets, those that are raised for food, service animals, and those that live in the wild.
Pacelle touches on the disturbingly cruel behavior of Michael Vicks and his dog fighting friends. Pacelle interviews Vicks and we learn how the athlete became so deeply involved in dog fighting and the manner and nature of his "conversion" to an advocate for animal rights. The sincerity of his conversion is hard to evaluate but Pacelle testified to the power of Vicks' influence especially on young men. Vicks makes a difference each time he speaks to a room full of children and teens about how much he regrets the pain that he'd caused and his advocacy for a kind and humane way to treat animals.
I expected to be upset by the descriptions of dog fighting, cockfighting, animal blood sports and hunting but I was particularly disturbed by the description of puppy mills. I never liked how pet stores keep for puppies in small cages, but Pacelle's account of the breeders' premises was worse than anything that I'd imagined. Pacelle systematically attacks many of the myths that I'd believed about purebred dogs and their breeders and sellers. While the genetic defects and vulnerabilities of purebred dogs are well recognized, it's hard to imagine that dogs are kept in such close confinement without exercise, fresh air or proper socialization. The breeding dogs and their offspring are often kept in cramped, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions.
Pacelle examines the raising and slaughtering of animals. His account of the "agro-industrial complex" is much like that described by Jonathan Safran Foer in Eating Animals. Reading both books within months of each other makes me think twice about my consumption of meat and dairy products.
If you have wondered about how we treat the animals around us, The Bond will give you a comprehensive and detailed account. It has led me to examine my behavior more carefully. I'm grateful for the work that activists have done to draw attention to animal suffering.
ISBN-10: 0061969788 - Hardcover $26.99
Publisher: William Morrow (April 5, 2011), 448 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Pacelle touches on the disturbingly cruel behavior of Michael Vicks and his dog fighting friends. Pacelle interviews Vicks and we learn how the athlete became so deeply involved in dog fighting and the manner and nature of his "conversion" to an advocate for animal rights. The sincerity of his conversion is hard to evaluate but Pacelle testified to the power of Vicks' influence especially on young men. Vicks makes a difference each time he speaks to a room full of children and teens about how much he regrets the pain that he'd caused and his advocacy for a kind and humane way to treat animals.
I expected to be upset by the descriptions of dog fighting, cockfighting, animal blood sports and hunting but I was particularly disturbed by the description of puppy mills. I never liked how pet stores keep for puppies in small cages, but Pacelle's account of the breeders' premises was worse than anything that I'd imagined. Pacelle systematically attacks many of the myths that I'd believed about purebred dogs and their breeders and sellers. While the genetic defects and vulnerabilities of purebred dogs are well recognized, it's hard to imagine that dogs are kept in such close confinement without exercise, fresh air or proper socialization. The breeding dogs and their offspring are often kept in cramped, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions.
Pacelle examines the raising and slaughtering of animals. His account of the "agro-industrial complex" is much like that described by Jonathan Safran Foer in Eating Animals. Reading both books within months of each other makes me think twice about my consumption of meat and dairy products.
If you have wondered about how we treat the animals around us, The Bond will give you a comprehensive and detailed account. It has led me to examine my behavior more carefully. I'm grateful for the work that activists have done to draw attention to animal suffering.
ISBN-10: 0061969788 - Hardcover $26.99
Publisher: William Morrow (April 5, 2011), 448 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
April 5, 2012
On the cover of the New York Times Bestseller, The Bond by Wayne Pacelle, depicts a young child hugging a dog in a field and immediately the readers thoughts are that this is a book about the bond we feel to our animal friends/pets but do not be deceived.
Wayne Pacelle is the President and CEO for the Humane Society of the United States and author of this novel. In it, the reader is exposed to the practices that go on around the world in regards to the treatment of animals, from puppy mills, slaughterhouses that produce our meat products, dog fighting and other animal blood sports such as hunting, National Park malpractices, science labs, fur industry businesses, and reckless breeding practices. The stories contained in this book are not for the faint of heart and likely to produce quite a few vegetarians after reading this book.
This book takes cruelty to animals to a whole new level exposing about every single possibility you can think of. This is definitely a pro-life book at the protection against animals everywhere and a definite must read if you have no idea of what goes on when it comes to anything to do with animals and animal rights. I'm sure you've all heard of one animal protection group at one time or another and this book takes a great majority of those situations and compiles them into one concise book.
I received this book compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and honestly believed this to be a book about the bond we share with our animal friends. Even so, looking at it in its entirety, as a reader who may be a bit naive on the subject of the practices of some forms of animal cruelty, this was an eye opener. The one thing I did love is a chapter devoted to things you can do to lend a hand to preventing animal cruelty and loads of tips and websites to check into. I highly recommend this book to readers who are against animal cruelty and for anyone wanting to know more into what goes on when it comes to the care and uses of our animal friends. For me, as a Christian, I personally feel an obligation to care for our animals as the stewards of the Earth that God has placed in our hands. For that reason I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
Wayne Pacelle is the President and CEO for the Humane Society of the United States and author of this novel. In it, the reader is exposed to the practices that go on around the world in regards to the treatment of animals, from puppy mills, slaughterhouses that produce our meat products, dog fighting and other animal blood sports such as hunting, National Park malpractices, science labs, fur industry businesses, and reckless breeding practices. The stories contained in this book are not for the faint of heart and likely to produce quite a few vegetarians after reading this book.
This book takes cruelty to animals to a whole new level exposing about every single possibility you can think of. This is definitely a pro-life book at the protection against animals everywhere and a definite must read if you have no idea of what goes on when it comes to anything to do with animals and animal rights. I'm sure you've all heard of one animal protection group at one time or another and this book takes a great majority of those situations and compiles them into one concise book.
I received this book compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and honestly believed this to be a book about the bond we share with our animal friends. Even so, looking at it in its entirety, as a reader who may be a bit naive on the subject of the practices of some forms of animal cruelty, this was an eye opener. The one thing I did love is a chapter devoted to things you can do to lend a hand to preventing animal cruelty and loads of tips and websites to check into. I highly recommend this book to readers who are against animal cruelty and for anyone wanting to know more into what goes on when it comes to the care and uses of our animal friends. For me, as a Christian, I personally feel an obligation to care for our animals as the stewards of the Earth that God has placed in our hands. For that reason I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
April 20, 2011
This may be the most disturbing book I have ever read, or at least in a very long time. The cover and title are deceptive, making you think this is one more endearing book about pets. Instead this book by the CEO of the American Humane Society addresses every crime against animals you can imagine. Covers factory farming practices, fighting practices (think Michael Vick), puppy mills, fur trade, fishing practices, National Park malpractices, population control, science lab practices and more. Discusses both domestic and wild animals.
Well written, this book highlights successes as well as problems. Does a revealing job of exposing legislative issues as well as lobbying by special interest groups that are not in the interests of animals. Finally, it ends with practical suggestions that we can all do at the most basic level to improve the lives of animals. Wayne Pacelle is a younger professional and I hope he has many years to continue making positive changes such as are documented here.
Well written, this book highlights successes as well as problems. Does a revealing job of exposing legislative issues as well as lobbying by special interest groups that are not in the interests of animals. Finally, it ends with practical suggestions that we can all do at the most basic level to improve the lives of animals. Wayne Pacelle is a younger professional and I hope he has many years to continue making positive changes such as are documented here.
May 6, 2013
This book is not what I usually think of as a "good read." However, it is a well written and compelling look into humankind's relationship with animals. First, there is a case made for our connectedness to animals. Most of the book, though, provides insight into the different ways that mankind can be abusive/cruel to animals: the plight of cows, pigs, and chickens on the mega farms that provide so much of the meat we eat to dogfighting (including much on Michael Vick) to the barbaric way baby seals are clubbed in Canada. Pacelle, the president & CEO of the Humane Society of America, argues throughout that the animal cruelty that exists is avoidable through implementation of reasonable laws, the main objective of the HSUS.
On a personal level, this book impacted me mostly "where I live" - or more accurately where & what I eat. Knowing what I know now about the treatment of animals on the giant Agribusiness farms, I don't believe I can continue to eat the mass-produced meats those places crank out. Sometimes knowing the truth dictates a change in action...
On a personal level, this book impacted me mostly "where I live" - or more accurately where & what I eat. Knowing what I know now about the treatment of animals on the giant Agribusiness farms, I don't believe I can continue to eat the mass-produced meats those places crank out. Sometimes knowing the truth dictates a change in action...
August 19, 2013
If you care about animals being treated humanely, this is the book to read. It was really well-written and very interesting. It was split into three parts. The first section was all about the bond between humans and animals. It included a lot of research about their similarities to us and stories about amazing things they've done. The second section focused on "the betrayal of the bond" and the horrible things humans have done (and are still doing) to animals. This section was hard to read, but was filled with important information that I didn't know much about before. Finally, the third section focused on creating a more humane world for animals. Pacelle wrote both in general about things we can do to create a more humane economy and more specifically about what regular people can do. I would definitely recommend it!! It was very convicting and made me want to do more than I already do.
April 27, 2011
I was absorbed by this book. It was an informative, nonjudgmental introduction to the world of animal welfare that I felt was so worth reading. There were a lot of interesting insights to the world of animal activism, particularly regarding the law. I learned a lot, and was reintroduced to my love of animals. The parts on factory farming were particularly close to home, because of my recent abandonment of my vegetarian lifestyle. I'm definitely reconsidering my priorities when it comes to my diet (again).
Pacelle presents a book that is full of compassion and love, that doesn't lecture, and that honestly pleads for action in the fight for humanity in how we treat the animals in the world around us.
Pacelle presents a book that is full of compassion and love, that doesn't lecture, and that honestly pleads for action in the fight for humanity in how we treat the animals in the world around us.
August 18, 2011
He was preaching to the choir with me, but still a great read. Interesting to learn that vets aren't always looking out for the best needs of animals (usually just the vets employed by the factory farms, but still!!). Very sad at times but also hopeful in the stories of great caring people everywhere. Very recommended!
January 27, 2016
HSUS President discusses animal Rights
This was a thought provoking book on the place of animals in our world. Animals can be companions or just part of nature. As humans we have obligations to prevent cruelty to our fellow living creatures. Discussion of dog breeds and AKC involvement in creating standards deleterious to dog's health and welfare was fascinating.
This was a thought provoking book on the place of animals in our world. Animals can be companions or just part of nature. As humans we have obligations to prevent cruelty to our fellow living creatures. Discussion of dog breeds and AKC involvement in creating standards deleterious to dog's health and welfare was fascinating.
April 17, 2011
All-encompassing look at the role of animals in our lives, the bond we share with them, and the humane effort. Obviously slightly biased toward the HSUS, this is still a good read, with practical ways to make a difference on a personal level.
June 7, 2011
Boring. Rehash of animal cruelty and meat supply stories from the last five years. Never addressed the emotional,psychic bond that animal lovers/owners experience. Poorly written. Runs off on tangents and loses focus.
July 31, 2013
Very entertaining historical recollection from Wayne Pacelle about his numerous battles against animal cruelty, typically against those lobbying groups for industries that profit from permission of animal cruelty (at least in the short term). Not at all what I expected considering the title, as the book spends little time discussing the biological and psychological connection that we humans feel towards protecting our furry friends. This gets touched on a little bit in the earlier chapters where Pacelle discusses a few historical anecdotes of the important roles that animals played in various cultures and societies, as well as even the chapter about his meeting with Michael Vick as well as numerous hunters where he dives into how men who are self-professed to love animals and stand in such awe of them can do such terrible things to them.
But the vast majority of the book is centered around the battles which the Humane Society has encountered against animal cruelty. The book itself could be case study in economics, as time and time again, those who are in favor of such brutality do so out of personal incentives (i.e. usually $$$) and often quite short-sightedly so. Pacelle brings up the role of the HSUS to pass the legislation in California a few years ago to improve the conditions for factory farming of chickens. If anyone has ever seen a chicken processing plant, I�m quite sure you�ll swear off the noble bird from now on, perhaps only in favor of those named Oliver who are given room to live a happy life in a farm outside of Portland. The stories are all true about the atrocious conditions in which 10 birds at a time are stuffed in a cage no larger than a small dog crate, where the poor chickens at the bottom are of a different color from the fecal matter stemming down. This sight alone should force you to pass legislation on account of public health let alone animal cruelty. With current conditions allowing for each chicken to occupy no more than an 8�x10� space in such factory farms, legislation sought to improve this for the sake of both the animals� health/well-being prior to slaughter which in turn is reflective of the health/well-being of us humans who consume animals in such decrepit conditions. And of course where the word �regulation� arises, even in pre-tea party days, the response from industry lobbying groups was that this would cripple the meat processing industry and kill jobs. Just as passage of the consumer protection act to limit predatory lending practices by credit card issuers would lead to the demise of the credit card and force us all back to a cash-only society, and of course kill jobs. And the affordable care act? Kill jobs of course. Nevermind that such predatory practices are what led us into a debt-burdened society that actually has �killed jobs�� but playing the Cassandra role of chicken little to spur public fear is undoubtedly effective. As part of this same measure, Pacelle sought to pass regulation in which �downed� cows could not be slaughtered for meat. Downed cows are those who are so disease ridden and sickly from the terrible factory conditions that they are unable to walk and need to be carried by forklift to slaughter. And the industry�s response? Putting this measure in place would of course kill jobs. And just as climate change skeptics seize onto that information which benefits their own personal incentives, they cited some obscure, non peer-reviewed, and highly sketchy study which proclaimed the safety of eating such animals. Lo and behold, consumption of downed cows is what led to the proliferation of Crutzfeld-Jacob disease (Mad cow), ultimately costing the beef industry $11MMM/yr in exports after South Korea and others banned imports of American Beef. Yep� and it�s the legislation that would kill jobs eh? Such measure ultimately did pass, but only after the Mad Cow debacle ensued and industry lobbyists retreated with their tails between their legs so as to quickly forget that it was their own drive for profit and greed that led to numerous deaths, and huge losses in profit in the long-term caused by their short-term motives.
Another story? That of the effort to ban cockfighting. Who knew that there was a big cockfighting lobby? And that this brutal �sport� was only made illegal a few years ago in the last of the American states? Evidently those breeders of fighting birds had their own lobby and were able to contribute sufficient amounts of money to help get their own cronies elected. Such cronies who opposed legislation attempts by stating, surprise surprise, that ending cockfighting would kill jobs. Interestingly, a few also cited that banning cockfighting would end an American tradition that is a good family event to bring children to. Considering that the last measure passed with 87% against cockfighting, it�s not so surprising that these senators quickly lost re-election.
So in the end, a well-written recollection with the moral that abuse of animals is not far down the slope of abuse of humanity. I do appreciate that Pacelle is open-minded and does not try to force his agenda upon others, nor is he opposed to consumption of animals� just the way to do so in a measure that maintains the dignity of such other living/breathing souls since how we treat them is in itself a reflection of who we are. The book is itself also a case-study in the lobbying-dominated Roman Empire-esque political and social result of what happens when democracy goes wild. Time and time again, I reject the Ayn Rand libertarian policy that every man for himself results in a stronger society as a whole. If your goal is �cumulative individualism�, why the fuck live in societies at all? Only because of how you can benefit from your neighbor? Is profit and individual gain the only purpose in life? I for one only need to spend 5mins with my dog Linus to remind me the answer to that is clearly NO.
But the vast majority of the book is centered around the battles which the Humane Society has encountered against animal cruelty. The book itself could be case study in economics, as time and time again, those who are in favor of such brutality do so out of personal incentives (i.e. usually $$$) and often quite short-sightedly so. Pacelle brings up the role of the HSUS to pass the legislation in California a few years ago to improve the conditions for factory farming of chickens. If anyone has ever seen a chicken processing plant, I�m quite sure you�ll swear off the noble bird from now on, perhaps only in favor of those named Oliver who are given room to live a happy life in a farm outside of Portland. The stories are all true about the atrocious conditions in which 10 birds at a time are stuffed in a cage no larger than a small dog crate, where the poor chickens at the bottom are of a different color from the fecal matter stemming down. This sight alone should force you to pass legislation on account of public health let alone animal cruelty. With current conditions allowing for each chicken to occupy no more than an 8�x10� space in such factory farms, legislation sought to improve this for the sake of both the animals� health/well-being prior to slaughter which in turn is reflective of the health/well-being of us humans who consume animals in such decrepit conditions. And of course where the word �regulation� arises, even in pre-tea party days, the response from industry lobbying groups was that this would cripple the meat processing industry and kill jobs. Just as passage of the consumer protection act to limit predatory lending practices by credit card issuers would lead to the demise of the credit card and force us all back to a cash-only society, and of course kill jobs. And the affordable care act? Kill jobs of course. Nevermind that such predatory practices are what led us into a debt-burdened society that actually has �killed jobs�� but playing the Cassandra role of chicken little to spur public fear is undoubtedly effective. As part of this same measure, Pacelle sought to pass regulation in which �downed� cows could not be slaughtered for meat. Downed cows are those who are so disease ridden and sickly from the terrible factory conditions that they are unable to walk and need to be carried by forklift to slaughter. And the industry�s response? Putting this measure in place would of course kill jobs. And just as climate change skeptics seize onto that information which benefits their own personal incentives, they cited some obscure, non peer-reviewed, and highly sketchy study which proclaimed the safety of eating such animals. Lo and behold, consumption of downed cows is what led to the proliferation of Crutzfeld-Jacob disease (Mad cow), ultimately costing the beef industry $11MMM/yr in exports after South Korea and others banned imports of American Beef. Yep� and it�s the legislation that would kill jobs eh? Such measure ultimately did pass, but only after the Mad Cow debacle ensued and industry lobbyists retreated with their tails between their legs so as to quickly forget that it was their own drive for profit and greed that led to numerous deaths, and huge losses in profit in the long-term caused by their short-term motives.
Another story? That of the effort to ban cockfighting. Who knew that there was a big cockfighting lobby? And that this brutal �sport� was only made illegal a few years ago in the last of the American states? Evidently those breeders of fighting birds had their own lobby and were able to contribute sufficient amounts of money to help get their own cronies elected. Such cronies who opposed legislation attempts by stating, surprise surprise, that ending cockfighting would kill jobs. Interestingly, a few also cited that banning cockfighting would end an American tradition that is a good family event to bring children to. Considering that the last measure passed with 87% against cockfighting, it�s not so surprising that these senators quickly lost re-election.
So in the end, a well-written recollection with the moral that abuse of animals is not far down the slope of abuse of humanity. I do appreciate that Pacelle is open-minded and does not try to force his agenda upon others, nor is he opposed to consumption of animals� just the way to do so in a measure that maintains the dignity of such other living/breathing souls since how we treat them is in itself a reflection of who we are. The book is itself also a case-study in the lobbying-dominated Roman Empire-esque political and social result of what happens when democracy goes wild. Time and time again, I reject the Ayn Rand libertarian policy that every man for himself results in a stronger society as a whole. If your goal is �cumulative individualism�, why the fuck live in societies at all? Only because of how you can benefit from your neighbor? Is profit and individual gain the only purpose in life? I for one only need to spend 5mins with my dog Linus to remind me the answer to that is clearly NO.
March 16, 2023
Extensive & thorough, covering the history of human-animal interactions, hunting, research, breeding, industrial farming & slaughter, animal intelligence & emotions, animal fighting, laws & politics, & humane alternatives. Includes ways you can help. Has extensive notes to check sources or look up more info, & an index. Eye-opening for me about the out-of-proportion influence of hunters on wildlife law-making & enforcement agencies. His anger at the AKC, the NRA, & the AVMA came thru loud & clear. And the attitudes of VETERINARIANS in the AVMA baffle me!! Sad to see that changes they thought they could effect by 2020 have not happened. I’d call this a galvanizing book; definitely not warm & fuzzy. Well-written, very readable—and apparently even proofread, as I only noticed one typo of an extra word!
July 8, 2022
If you love animals, as most of us profess to do, you owe it to yourself and animals everywhere to read this book. While some of this information was not new to me (such as the horrors of factory farming), some of it was (dog fighting, cock fighting). Once again, I am called to be a more conscientious consumer of food, health and beauty products. We as consumers can demand change to a more humane world for our wild and companion brethren.
July 25, 2018
Good overview of many aspects of treating animals, all across the spectrum, in a humane manner. (Yes, I wish Pacelle had a record of treating women in a humane manner as well while at the HSUS, but perhaps that's a different story. Perhaps, but perhaps not.) There are many practical suggestions. This is a helpful book that likely brings many positive changes.
July 24, 2017
The more I have learned about factory farming and the cruelty animals raised for food must endure before they are led or dragged to slaughter the more I realize that I could not in good conscience be a contributor to such violence.
July 2, 2022
This is one of those books I didn't want to hurry through...the info was amazing and useful...Loved it and unfortunately ....had a lot going on with my own rescues medically...was a great aid and bought it after reading from the library...a definite great read for anyone who loves their pups!
July 29, 2018
Wow is all I can say. Loved this book and all the marvelous stories in it. If you haven't read it, read it. You will kick yourself for not reading it sooner.
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January 7, 2020Skimmed through this book. The cover is sweet. However, it was pointed out to me that the author is a disgraced former HSUS CEO.
January 29, 2023
Great book but not for the faint of heart. We don't deserve animals.
October 17, 2019
Very well put together.
April 27, 2016
In this important book by Wayne Pacelle, current president of the Humane Society of the United States, we sorrowfully consider atrocities humans inflict upon our fellow travelers on the road of life. Throughout history we have justified our actions by convincing ourselves and then declaring that animals operate only by instinct, devoid of emotion and consciousness nor the ability to feel pain. In this view, animals never play just for the fun of it—no, it’s always about honing mechanistic survival skills. When Charles Darwin tried to tell us this was not true, we ignored him (see Darwin’s “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals” of 1872).
Pacelle writes in the Preface: “Especially within the last two hundred years, we’ve come to apply an industrial mind-set to the use of animals, too often viewing them as if they were nothing but articles of commerce and the raw material of science, agriculture, and wildlife management. Here, as in other pursuits, human ingenuity has a way of outrunning human conscience…”
He listens carefully to the arguments for and against these actions, recounts some of the gains as well as setbacks to the animal welfare movements, and even hails Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio for his zero tolerance toward cruelty to animals. He plunges into the world of factory farming, animal fighting, and pet and wildlife abuse. He discusses the Humane Society’s program that offers tips to people on how to deal with wild creatures who’ve decided that some part of your home or landscape makes a good nesting site, resting spot, or playground. He presents a list of fifty ways you can help animals.
“For a long time, in our dealings with animals, we have conducted ourselves like beings from another world, unfeeling, all-powerful, and strangely disconnected from the realities of animal consciousness and emotion. But it shouldn’t be such a stretch to recognize how much we have in common with creatures made of the same flesh and blood, or to imagine ourselves in their place—helpless, vulnerable, and afraid.”
I will return to this book time and time again for guidance.
Pacelle writes in the Preface: “Especially within the last two hundred years, we’ve come to apply an industrial mind-set to the use of animals, too often viewing them as if they were nothing but articles of commerce and the raw material of science, agriculture, and wildlife management. Here, as in other pursuits, human ingenuity has a way of outrunning human conscience…”
He listens carefully to the arguments for and against these actions, recounts some of the gains as well as setbacks to the animal welfare movements, and even hails Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio for his zero tolerance toward cruelty to animals. He plunges into the world of factory farming, animal fighting, and pet and wildlife abuse. He discusses the Humane Society’s program that offers tips to people on how to deal with wild creatures who’ve decided that some part of your home or landscape makes a good nesting site, resting spot, or playground. He presents a list of fifty ways you can help animals.
“For a long time, in our dealings with animals, we have conducted ourselves like beings from another world, unfeeling, all-powerful, and strangely disconnected from the realities of animal consciousness and emotion. But it shouldn’t be such a stretch to recognize how much we have in common with creatures made of the same flesh and blood, or to imagine ourselves in their place—helpless, vulnerable, and afraid.”
I will return to this book time and time again for guidance.
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