Customer Reviews

The Inner World of Farm Animals: Their Amazing Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Capacities

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Peter Singer can go on making his logical, rational, reasonable case for ethical treatment of animals, and PETA can go on with their outrageous campaigns equating factory farming to the Holocaust, and self-righteous vegans can avoid eating figs because they have dead wasps inside them (which is truthy--wasps do get absorbed into figs as part of a necessary pollination/reproduction symbiosis)...but the ultimate, ULTIMATE argument for ethical treatment of animals and decreased meat consumption is in this book: Farm animals are cute. I mean really cute. And they are playful and can be smart, too. They have little societies, of a sort, and can remember things, have favorites, hold grudges. They are not just little people only furrier (and possibly more delicious). But they are not mere unfeeling objects, either. They can, in fact, suffer. And whatever else can be said about humans, by and large those of us who are not sociopaths cannot stand by and watch something innocent and cute suffer. The hamburgers we eat, the buckets of chicken and crispy bacon--all of our meat is so far removed from the animals of which it consists that it is easy to start thinking of meat as something quite removed from suffering, and quite apart from the cute animals pictured in this book. "Inner World" disabuses us of that comforting myth by reminding us, with sparkling prose and wonderful photographs, of what precisely that stuff on our plate really is. I'm pretty far from being an animal rights extremist and am at best a fair-weather vegetarian, but this book strikes me as the perfect prod to a conscience put into a trance by too many "I'm lovin' it" commercials. It is not depressing. It is not shocking. It is, in fact, a great book for children, with all its adorable duckies and lambs and piglets and so forth. No pictures of slaughter-houses, no descriptions of cruelty to shock the senses. Just a reminder that the bacon double-cheeseburger few of us can resist was once, in fact, something we would find it very hard not to pet.

I just received this book and I'm absolutely blown away. The photographs Amy chose for this book perfectly capture the beautiful essence of the various species and individuals featured, and the stories are enough to make people change their minds about "farm animals" without having to sift through high scientific language. I will be giving many copies out as gifts for many years to come. Brava!

I wrote this on behalf of 'farm animals' and thought I would share it here, as Amy's book perfectly captures my thoughts:

"My hope is that we can all navigate through this world with the grace and integrity of those who most need our protection. May we have the sense of humor and liveliness of the goats; may we have the maternal instincts and protective nature of the hens and the sassiness of the roosters. May we have the gentleness and strength of the cattle, the wisdom, serenity, and humility of the donkeys. May we appreciate the need for community as do the sheep and choose our companions as carefully as do the rabbits. May we have the faithfulness and commitment to family of the geese, the adaptability and affability of the ducks. May we have the inquisitiveness, sensitivity, and playfulness of the turkeys and the intelligence, loyalty, and affection of the pigs. My hope is that we can learn from the animals what we need to become better people."

Hats off to Amy Hatkoff, author of this beautiful, approachable book. With simple prose, Hatkoff introduces readers to some startling scientific revelations of animals we prefer to think of as dumb and unfeeling. From pigs who can take the perspective of another, to sheep's preferences for smiling faces, to cows who use an aluminum shed as an amplifier to call their calves in for dinner--you'll find plenty to raise your eyebrows here. I've yet to encounter a solid rationale for the oft-held bias that domesticated animals are less aware, intelligent or sentient than wild animals. Hatkoff has marshaled the evidence to lay that bias to rest.

The pages are also graced by a collection of really fine photos, as well as touching stories and eyewitness accounts from animal rescuers and sanctuary workers. I take issue with just one clause in the final section, where we're reminded that these animals are raised and killed "for our benefit." Animal agriculture's harmful contributions to global warming, animal well-being, and human health are no more beneficial to us than they are to the animals. Pass me that veggie-burger.

The layout of this book is beautiful, with many full-color, full-page pictures of farm animals. The text is easy-to-read and flows smoothly, with short sections (at most two pages) discussing the different kinds of intelligence of the animals. It is beautiful to look at and hold, and the vocabulary is not over-the-top where the studies are concerned.

I give this book a 3-star rating because I found the level of writing to be a little too basic. If you have had any experience with animals, whether a pet-owner, a hobby farmer or anything else you probably won't be surprised by the information contained in this book, especially if you are already familiar with the basic ideas behind animal rights. The coverage is just not in depth enough to really interest me as a reader. If gives you tantalizing tidbits and then moves on. Even the studies that are repeatedly mentioned and referred to in the text are only portrayed in the briefest of overviews.

If you are completely new to the animal rights scene and have never had a personal experience with a farm animal then you may well be impressed by this book and it will probably open your eyes to the complex creatures that we routinely eat and abuse. If you are trying to broach this subject to someone who is against it, or teach older children about animals as more than food this book may be very useful to you. (I wouldn't recommend this for very young children except as a picture book, some of the terminology that is used in conjunction with the studies is a little large.)

After reading this book (relatively quick read as well, I finished it in one sitting of a few hours) I was left wanting more, more information about the studies and how they were preformed, more than the short anecdotes that filled the pages, and more than the fairly repetitive quotes that are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. I did like the fact that this book did not try to shove animal rights down your throat, it was not in-you-face and did not use scare tactics, it admitted that in many of the studies the scientists weren't sure that they were measuring things correctly and that the things they were trying to measure were very difficult to isolate. The author plainly stated in multiple places that the studies weren't perfect, but that the overarching evidence pointed to these creatures being more than mindless automatons. That gave this book points in my eyes.

It is an enjoyable book, but not a blow-you-out-of-the-water amazing book unless you have never had any kind of contact with farm animals before.

I'm tired. I mean I'm bone tired. After throwing myself into the thick of the animal right's literature and websites and books and movies and, youtube videos, I just couldn't take another "honest look at the factory farming industry." Not because I want to stay in denial, but because, let's face it: this stuff is harsh and I'm 'this close' to burnout.

And along comes this book; this little gem of a book. An oasis in the desert of our cold cruel world. Pretty pictures of prettier animals. Stories to melt your heart. Happy endings. Remember happy endings? I'm not above saying I love happy endings.

I'll go 'Out There' again in due time. But for now, let me rest a bit in this idyllic, pastoral world. Let me dream of having a little piglet of my own and conversing with a turkey. Just for a while, because 'Out There' isn't going anywhere fast.

Amazon kills animals by supporting the fur industry.

I liked the book, but am saddened that I bought it from a company that SELLS FUR. I am sick and sad that I ever gave Amazon a single dime. I am not the only one. Amazon execs should understand that there are many more people out here who are offended at the butchering deaths of helpless animals for ridiculous VANITY, than there are people who would actually go to amazon to buy their FUR COATS. I ask that others please reconsider buying any more products from these people until they stop selling fur, and stop sending out cookie-cutter form letters to those of us who give a damn about the lives of others. (No, it is not enough to claim that they're merely trying to "give the customer what they want even if it offends some people. Would they say that if I wanted to buy heroin? If I wanted to buy a nuclear weapon? If I wanted to buy an Indonesian House Boy??? Not good enough. Some things are so reprehensible that society demands that they NOT sell them. Although, I'm sure that if they could, they would, so long as it was profitable.)

Take the profit out of death and join me in boycotting Amazon. There are hundreds of other sites that sell great books, often cheaper, that do not profit from the deaths of innocent animals.

Review by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns

I looked at the piece of animal on my plate, and it symbolized fear, pain, and death. I stopped eating it - Jane Goodall, Foreword

The Inner World of Farm Animals is dedicated "to farm animals everywhere and to all those who are standing by, with, and for them." The book combines beautiful color photographs with stories and perspectives by sanctuary directors and animal scientists showing that chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, cows, sheep, pigs, and goats possess complex emotions, intelligence, consciousness, and social skills. Like us, these animals are sentient beings. Sentience, Hatkoff explains, "means being aware of oneself, one's surroundings, one's bodily sensations, and of the emotions corresponding to that awareness. It means having an awareness of other animals as well as of humans. Research shows that farm animals have a wide range of feelings, including loyalty, sadness, joy, and fear" (p. 17).

Stories illustrating these claims begin with an account of a mother duck who quacked and tugged beseechingly at the pant leg of a police officer to get him to accompany her to a sewer grate where he discovered that her eight ducklings had fallen through the grates. The ducklings were promptly rescued and reunited with their mother. The point of the story is that the mother duck's actions on behalf of her youngsters showed conscious intention, determination, parental devotion, and distress, the same as would be found in a human mother.

The sad irony of the story is that the vast majority of farmed animals are stuck, without any hope of being rescued, in the sewer. No police officer will ever pull them out of it and no caring mothers will hear their cries, let alone be in a position to help them. Rescued farmed animals represent the lucky few - comparable to a teaspoon of ocean water - who chanced to find comfort and joy in the friendship and loving companionship of other animals in a sanctuary, in the care of compassionate people. Their stories along with the photographs are the heart and soul of this book.

The scientific contribution focuses mainly on experiments in which chickens and other animals are praised by researchers for proving they're smart enough to learn which levers and computer keys to press in order to get food or some other so-called reward. Are you surprised to learn that chickens will peck keys 100 times to reach a place where they can dustbathe but only 10 times to reach a place full of thumbtacks? Marion Stamp Dawkins, who designed this experiment, also "discovered" that the hens in her laboratory will work harder to get back to their chicks, when experimentally separated from them, than they will to get back to their adult flockmates (p. 37). ) Granting this, one wonders what application it could have to chicken farming, in which breeding flocks and hatcheries are totally separate operations.

In this generally lovely and illuminating book, to which I was pleased to contribute, I wish that the author had shunned the pseudoscience that ranks animals according to who is "smarter" than whom. At best, it's plain silly. And I wish the book had not included Matthew Scully's fusty declaration about animals in Dominion that "We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but because they don't."

If a purpose of The Inner World of Farm Animals is to teach people to respect farmed animals instead of patronizing and demeaning them, the Scully quotation doesn't fit. Nor does suggesting that people like Wolfgang Puck, who cook animals and make money off their misery while spouting rubbish about being against "factory farming," are benefactors of farmed animals. Fortunately, while mentioning welfare measures that are being taken to help animals raised for food, Hatkoff does not overstate their effectiveness.

The Inner World of Farm Animals, with its beautiful images and moving personal stories, should be placed in locations where ordinary people can easily pick it up, browse and be affected by the beauty, plight, and fellowship of farmed animals and want to help them. It is a thoughtful holiday gift that includes a list of advocacy organizations and sanctuaries to contact for more information. - Karen Davis, United Poultry Concerns.[...]

I am ten. This book is so amazing. It has tons of pictures and stories, and everything about farm animals!

I've read this book about five times and I love it more and more! Get this book if you love animals. It will get to your heart. Amazing.

Well written anecdotes of the very easy to believe concept that all animals are self aware and experience feelings. It is not one of those books that points it's finger at the reader. It makes it's point and I believe would even influence people who are on the fence about the subject. I enjoy these type of stories but do not like being preached at, if you're like me you'll enjoy this book.

CHANGING HEARTS AND MINDS: This book is a simple collection of narrative accounts and short stories, but at the same time it is an in-depth view into the many faceted inner worlds and emotional sides of farm "animals." It is appropriate for both very seasoned activists, newcomers to the non-human being liberation scene, and for those just curious about the inner world of farm "animals." As a plus, this book contains many fabulous pictures of common farm "animals." There was much for ME to marvel about in this small but excellent evidence sampling of non-human being intelligence and emotions. Although I am aware of some of the never-ending non-human being marvels such as when I watched a documentary and witnessed three young adult sister wolves shamelessly FLIRT with the neighborhood Romeo (I said, "OH MY GOD, they're FLIRTING!") under Mom's glance of disapproval then watch these females go to Mom and lick her face as if to say, "we are loyal to you, but this guy's so cute!" I am aware of the very high intelligence of pigs and some birds and that dolphins gossip, but I was surprised that sheep showed signs of more intelligence than I thought. Non-human beings do have very complex feelings, expectations, and they are able to find solutions to unusual problems.

For centuries humans have pretended that non-human beings are very different from us--not capable of such capacities as self awareness, intelligence, emotions, gratitude and many OTHER human-like traits in order to satisfy our egotistical need to feel superior so we may feel comfortable using other beings as objects to our advantage--for meat, experimentation, and entertainment (enforced by the three major religions). In an ideal world no one can define another. Animals are the most vulnerable in our society partly because they cannot speak for themselves. Today and for centuries we have negated their intrinsic value, their spirituality, emotions, intelligence, right to be themselves--in essence who they are, even their souls. Non-human beings have been compassionatelessly controlled and bullied by being defined as "animals" (animal IS a term of abuse and oppression), food, meat, livestock, beef, pork, ribs, dirty, exhibits, dumb animals, experiments, spectacles, property, entertainment, trophy, hunt, beasts, pests, product, it, etc. For instance, an elephant in a zoo has been defined as an "exhibit," and many people fail to see the REAL elephant w/elephant needs--indeed a broken spirit whose life has been completely destroyed--she is totally controlled--her only reality is her prison (her inadequate enclosure) that she endures from the moment she wakes up until night, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year with no real elephant life of her own. If the elephant bobs or sways from stress, some people define her/him as crazy (I've heard it while I was filming). The "exhibit" becomes "crazy," and the REAL elephant is lost in this con game. It is a con game of being wrongly defined, of misrepresentation, lack of empathy, control and terror. Don't people get bullied in much the same way? There's more. This person laughed! He thought the bobbing and swaying was funny. So now the crazy exhibit is also funny because "exhibits" exist for our entertainment. The real suffering elephant is now invisible under the cloak of definitions conjured up for her--all this person saw was the funny crazy exhibit (also zoo property) for his entertainment. There's more: A nearby zoo volunteer was manipulating public opinion by adding more inventive definitions: She said the elephant was once a baby "rescue" elephant. No rescue elephant is sent to a zoo. Zoos are prisons. Baby elephants in desperate situations (sometimes mother elephants are killed either for their baby or their tusks--in both instances the baby is deeply traumatized after witnessing their mother being killed) are preyed upon by an industry that wants to make money, they are stripped of their lives, stripped of their sense of self, they learn to depend on their keepers and learn to develop a sick bond of dependency/affection and live a life deprived of their real needs. In the wild, elephants self regulate, and sanctuaries are the only place for "rescue" elephants. From beneath these piles and piles of phony definitions, a make-believe elephant emerges, and burried beneath it all is the REAL elephant--now virtually invisible--Unseen and Unheard--his/her suffering unnoticed--like the billions of non-human beings mercilessly slaughtered each year.

Today, however, with the appearance of compassionate witnesses, we are allowing non-human beings to define THEMSELVES; we are allowing non-human beings to tell us who they are by way of compassionate observation, and in turn, we are being educated, and we are Re-defining non-human beings and farm "animals" in particular. We are slowly re-adjusting the lens from blind to clear. No longer will non-human beings' identities be trashed or completely annihilated by definitions that diminish or rather completely annihilate these souls into objects that serve our selfish needs without vigorous challenge.

It is time we stop pretending other beings are just objects to satisfy our needs and begin realizing that we indeed share similarities in this universe or universal system, and we are indeed alike in many ways and interconnected. At the same time, we need to accept and respect non-human beings for who they are. Non-human beings exist for themselves in order to enjoy life just the same way humans do. Buddhists say the reason for existence is to enjoy life. It's that simple. It is time we see cows and EVEN chickens as individuals with a RICHNESS of feelings, emotions and social needs who also suffer fear and pain rather than pretending they are nothing more than a piece of meat on one's plate with no regard whatsoever to the TREMENDOUS torment (all this horrid suffering for mere taste) they have endured in the factory farms and especially in the final moments of their deep-hell existence on earth--the slaugherhouses.

Hilarious is a story of possible subject matter for the Dr. Phil Show: At Farm Sanctuary there is a cow, Maya, that is STILL angry at Gene Baur--the founder of Farm Sanctuary (who is the incarnation of 100% compassion) for a "wrong" done to her a really LONG TIME ago! What would Dr. Phil say? "Trust me, Gene, women (females) don't forget ANYTHING, time heals absolutely NOTHING! As long as it takes Gene, as long as it takes." Hang in there Gene baby! (ha ha) (The Farm Sanctuary is right on top of my favorite charities).

As a final thought, I agree with author Jonathan Balcombe's last thought that it was mentioned in the book these beings are used for our own good. Sometimes, we still cling to our selfish definitions as we see fit for our own selfish needs. As the Buddhists, say, "Karma can only go so far and no farther." Only very little is needed for someone to really get it and change--only very little. It's not necessary to try too hard to convince anyone--you will just waste your time.

Pass me that veggie-burger!

Note: This same evening I walked home around 8:00 p.m. and saw a group of deer trying to cross a busy street where cars zoom by. Most of them made it across, but the cars did not slow down. Some honked. The last deer did not cross. She was utterly terrified and a car honked at her, and she retreated into the wooded area. Finally, she crouched in a very terrified dashing stance (as if for protection) and ran across the road as fast as she could and made it. Thank God! TV stations are calling these gracious beings pests and telling drivers not to slow down or brake, and go ahead and hit them! Deers' lives are artificially given no value, yet these beings cherish life just the same way we do, and we terrify them by not slowing down, we take away their land--give them no where to hide, we kill them on the road and don't care, we maim them and make them suffer if we hit them but don't kill them right away--all this because people are taught not to respect the lives of these beings, and many people, therefore, are incapable of seeing deer for who they really are. Their internal lens is on blind.

Note: A few weeks after writing this review, I read that Maya, the cow at Farm Sanctuary, had passed away December 31, 2008. Maya who was just a baby calf, had been disgarded and thrown away like trash awaiting certain death. She was rescued from a Pennsylvania Stockyard in 1987 by Gene Baur. In all the years she has spent at Farm Sanctuary, she has deeply touched and enriched ALL who came to know her. Her unbridled spirit to live and live a fulfilling life as she wished for herself in spite of how the rest of humanity regarded her has indeed deeply inspired me. Thank you Maya, and I am absolutely 100% sure you are either in heaven or in a better life--whichever you wish!