ANIMAL RIGHTS: Stories of People Who Defend the Rights of Animals

by Patricia Curtis ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1980

Animals do have some legal rights, Curtis makes clear, and people can be taken to court for abandoning or neglecting their pets. She tells of these and other abuses, legal and illegal, in seven first-person accounts, ostensibly by seven different people involved in defending animals. A wildlife illustrator who lectures against inhumane hunting and trapping tells of a fox trapped on her property; a research veterinarian summarizes some of the agricultural horrors that Mason and Singer describe in Factory Farming (adult, p. 493); an ASPCA agent tells of the mistreatment of many animals used in movies, rodeos, circuses, and dude ranches. The weakest chapter is about two young men who sail down one coast and up the other to publicize the plight of the whales (to what avail, or even with what commitment, does not come through). The strongest is the first, a medical student's story of his eighth-grade revolt against dissection in biology lab, and his later discoveries of laboratory animal abuses. (Science fair winners have blinded pigeons and transplanted a rabbit heart--without anesthesia.) Curtis' personal accounts aren't as solidly packed with information and thoughtful analysis as is J. J. McCoy's In Defense of Animals (1978), but they will reach a different audience. The time is right for a sympathetic reception; Curtis' tone is conversational, not shrill; and it is good to see a juvenile author take a partisan stand.

Pub Date: April 1, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Four Winds

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION