Reviews for The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble

The average rating for The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-01-02 00:00:00 Steven Burgess The review for the book The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble by Ingrid Newkirk I first wrote on December 28, 2009 and posted on Animal Friends Croatia web page. But there is never enough exposure for good readings and remarkable people, so I decided to repost it here as well. When I first opened a copy of the latest book by Ingrid Newkirk, The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble, after receiving it by mail, a colleague of mine stood behind me and gazed at it intently. I did not know what he was thinking, I just felt his presence and waited for him to speak his mind or tell me what he needed from me. A few more seconds drifted by before he stated, "I do not know where she finds time to write a book." I didn't think when I replied to him, "Discipline," like it was self-understanding. But on second thought, I do not think I said something wrong. It takes lots of discipline to be a full-time active advocate for animals and also to find time to do something besides it - like writing a book. Maybe it won't make much sense to many, but if we are speaking in terms of advocating for animals, discipline for me equals to commitment, dedication, empathy, compassion, kindness, love, perseverance, and patience. This is what one needs to be a good animal advocate. These are qualities we must treasure if we want to successfully finish our marathon race. And these are features I find in Ingrid Newkirk. Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of meeting Ingrid personally. Exchanging emails with her from time to time is always such a pleasant and encouraging experience though. Whether they carry a concise message as praise in their subject or explain something in length, I always look forward to them. And if I have to say something about Ingrid's latest book, I cannot do that without saying something about Ingrid, too. Each book, each story, each line reflects the personality of its author. The same is with Ingrid and her books. During the last couple of years I read three of her books: 250 Things You Can Do to Make Your Cat Adore You, Kids Can Save the Animals: 101 Easy Things to Do and Free the Animals. Meanwhile, I read plenty of other books about animals and animal rights. However, Free the Animals along with Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust by Charles Patterson are probably the two books that left the deepest impact on me. The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble closely follows their footsteps, disarming me with its simplicity, practicality and outstanding message. I've been an animal advocate for eight years already, after I dropped out of environmental protection. Throughout these years I learned a lot about animals, animal advocacy, and animal rights in general, but also about myself. Most of that knowledge I as a person and my group as a whole owe to PETA and Ingrid Newkirk. Animal Friends Croatia realized many successful campaigns and actions studying PETA's strategy and the way of reasoning, while Ingrid Newkirk proved herself to be more than just a good adviser: she was a real trooper, a helping hand that guided us and brought us into safety when our heads were below the water. Truly, lots of credits for our achievements and victories surely go to Ingrid Newkirk and PETA. This is why The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble is such an important book. It gives the reader an ocean full of practical advice on how to advocate for animals and how to treat them in everyday life, but it also talks to us. It communicates with us, page after page, sharing with us the rich experience of its author in saving animals and fighting for their rights. On some 300 pages Ingrid guides us as gently as possible through all imaginable aspects of animal exploitation and abuse. Without holding back anything, she teaches us who are animals and why we should respect them and treat them as our equals. Yes, there are moments when she mercilessly tightens her grip around our hearts when she narrates the true stories of animals who suffered through the worst possible ordeals humans bestowed upon them. Remember the story about Makara the rhino; a downer cow at a stockyard in Kentucky; a polar bear named Gus housed in New York's Central Park Zoo; the Berosini orangutans; a seagull tangled up in fishing line in a Virginia park; Billy, a timid little Silver Spring monkey; a stray dog named Aurora; a hound dog named Cindy; and Hannah, the sheep, to name just a few? Yes, this is Ingrid's way: she shakes us out of our boots, she brings tears to our eyes and makes our hearts bleed. But once we compose ourselves again, we realize that we are not so helpless as we thought we were. There is hope for us, which means there is hope for animals, too. In the "What You Can Do" sections, Ingrid takes enormous efforts in going into the tiniest detail in order to show us that we can make a difference - a huge difference with little effort. And maybe here lies the greatest value of this book. "What You Can Do" is simply priceless if we really set our heart in doing something for animals Yes, we can make a change, even with the smallest thing. We do not have to be in the front lines of animal rights advocacy doing demos, protests, vegan tastings, holding public speeches, lectures, or going nude for the animals' sake. No, we can sit comfortably in the warmth of our home, pick up the phone and dial our favorite radio station, call the TV news and leave a comment about something we just saw, write a letter to the newspaper editor or browse the Internet posting our comments, or maybe even create an animal rights blog or web page. True, it is easy to be an animal advocate nowadays. The best thing is that whatever we do, each action we take, every bit of information we share with someone else, everything counts. Nothing's in vain. But the easier it is for us to become an animal advocate, the greater the obligation we have to really become one. There is no excuse for being passive, there is no excuse for doing nothing while animals suffer and are killed. There is no excuse for closing our eyes before the truth and ingenuity of Ingrid's advice. There is no excuse for closing our hearts after closing the cover of The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble, shutting out and denying the cries of those who seek our help. It is very simple: compassion and kindness are the keys to both human and animal liberation. When we liberate ourselves from the chains of tradition and old-fashioned views, the light that will shine up within us will liberate others, too. Let us light up our hearts and carry our torches in lighting up the hearts and lives of our fellow creatures. Please, let this remarkable book written by a remarkable woman touch you with its kind message. Let it guide you into a world where there shall be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain. For anyone. BJ www.bernardjan.com

Review # 2 was written on 2009-07-25 00:00:00 Stephen Galat When I received an email offering to send me this book to review, I knew immediately that I had to have it. I received it in the mail yesterday (along with a copy to give away to one lucky commenter, YAY!) and I stayed up until 5 this morning reading it. And it's almost 10 now, so I haven't had much sleep. Honestly, there were times that I cried reading this book and there were many times that I had to put it down and take a breather. This is an extremely intense book and at times was hard to stomach. I love animals and I love our environment and I'm not perfect but I want to do everything in my power to make a difference in this world. Even if it's only for one human or one rabbit. I have 3 dogs who I love so very much. They have completely different personalities just like humans. Some people say that animals don't have souls but I don't believe that. My dogs are treated like part of the family and I wouldn't have it any other way. Here are some facts about my doggies so that you can get to know them. Precious - A friend of mine had a dog who had puppies and I ended up getting one of them. Precious is part Shepherd, Lab, Chow, and Husky. She chose her own name. The day that I got her (she was 8 weeks old) and she crawled underneathe my bed and I was trying to get her to come out. I don't know why but I just kept saying doggie names and then saying come on. When I said Precious, she came out. So that's how she got her name. When she was little and we were trying to potty train her, we put a gate a the top of the second half of the steps (bi-level) and she just roamed around downstairs. My dad is diabetic and his sugar was too high and he ended up falling down the first half of the steps. Precious took a running leap over the gate to get to my dad. She was not very big at this time and I have no idea how she was able to do it. From that point on, we kept the gate up knowing that she could just come right over it, but she was really good and stayed downstairs until we had her fully potty trained and then she was able to roam the house. Precious is a diva, in every way. She loves baths, she loves to have her hair brushed. In the winter time we use a hair dryer on her. She is extremely smart and she has no idea that she's a dog. I love her so much. Bubba - I got Bubba from the SPCA and he's a Chow mix. He's quiet and lazy. He thinks that you should be petting him at all times. I have only seen him growl and turn mean looking twice and both times it was because some shady characters were coming around me. He is extremely protective, especially of children. Whenever I would take him out to go to the bathroom, he would head to wherever he heard kids playing. One time my cousins came over and I was holding the 2 year old and I threw up in the air playing and Bubba started barking at me, he did not like this so I had to stop. He is especially protective of my nephew, Damien. Damien practically tackles Bubba and Bubba loves the attention. Reese - I got Reese from the SPCA and we almost lost her after 2 hours. We took her home and were letting her get used to her new home. Our plan was to take her to the vet the next morning to have her checked out and to get the vaccines that the SPCA doesn't give them. After 2 hours in the apartment, Reese started pooping pure blood. It was so sad and it literally broke my heart. I called around to all the vets and they kept saying that she needed to be seen right away but that their office was closing. So I kept trying. I was determined to do everything in my power to save this little puppy. Finally I talked with someone at Banfield who said for us to bring her in right away. We did and they did the parvo test and Reese had parvo. I was terrified that she was going to die. We'd only known this little puppy for two hours but I was already in love with her. She had to stay at Banfield overnight, which broke my heart but I trusted these people. They were so kind and I could tell that they were going to do everything they could to save my baby. The next day we went to visit her (we visited 4 or 5 times a day) and she was already acting so much better. The people at Banfield took turns going in and playing with her. She had to be kept in isolation until the parvo was completely gone. After we were able to bring Reese home, I called the SPCA and I told them what had happened. She had supposedly been vaccinated for Parvo but the paper that they gave us with her shot records had the day after we got her as the date she received her shots. When I called them, they said I could bring her back and exchange her. Like she's a freaking sweater. I told them no that they needed to do something about this and they need to check the other dogs for Parvo. After fighting with them for a while, they reimbursed us for half of the vet bills. I wanted to let them know that this was unacceptable. It had nothing to do with the money and everything to do with trying to save another puppy from dying of a disease that is preventable. She's still known as the Parvo Puppy whenever we take her to the vet. They all still remember my little angel who survived. This book is filled with little ways to make a big difference. Animals can't make themselves be heard and they need us to be their voice. I think everyone should read this book to fully understand what goes on behind closed doors. It's not an easy book to read but standing up for something is never easy. I hope that you will take the time to help someone in need.