Do Unto Animals - Tracey Stewart

This is a lovely book, both the contents and the illustrations.  Tracey Stewart has been an animal lover since she was a child.  She eventually became a veterinary technician.  She's also the wife of Jon Stewart of the Daily Show.  They made headlines a few months ago when Jon retired from the Daily Show and they announced that they were buying a farm in NJ and setting up a farm animal sanctuary.

In November, my niece Amy and I attended the Farm Sanctuary Gala in NYC, which honored Tracey and Jon for their commitment to animal welfare.  At the party, Tracey announced that they and Farm Sanctuary were 'getting married'.  Their farm in NJ will be an official Farm Sanctuary farm animal sanctuary.

Tracey's book is beautifully and copiously illustrated by Lisel Ashlock.  The text is comprised of short pieces about Tracey's experiences with animals and pieces about animal behavior.  It's simply and clearly written and is easy to read.  I think it's suitable for teaching children how to respect animals and how to effectively and appropriately interact with them.

She writes about the personalities of individual animals and the general nature of different species.  Pigs are smart, cows are extremely maternal, turkeys are curious, goats are playful and adventurous.  Most animals are very social.  They grieve, they feel the same emotions humans do, they feel pain.  There is no such thing as a 'dumb animal', not even in the vocal sense.  She makes strong arguments, in a very nice way, for treating animals much better than we now treat them.  Farm animals are the most routinely and commonly abused animals on Earth.  It's wrong to accept torture and suffering as 'normal'.  It's only 'normal' because humans have decided it is.

Tracey writes about cats and dogs and horses and about what their body language tells us.  We need to learn to listen and watch animals.  They may not speak English, but they are definitely communicating.  She also writes about wild animals and birds.  Their family takes part in the annual Audubon bird count each year.  

My husband and I have been supporters of Farm Sanctuary since the mid-1990s.  We've had two adopted cows there:  the late, great Rhonda and our current dairy steer, an anomaly, Lawrence.  We met Lawrence when he was less than a year old.  He was such a baby that he sucked on the ties of my hoodie.  Now he's huge, but sweet.  Most male dairy cattle are slaughtered for cheap veal at a few weeks old or left to die (I've seen photos of them stacked up like fire wood) since they can't produce milk and haven't been bred to bulk up for beef.

You don't have to steel yourself to read this book.  It's not graphic and does not go into details of the abuses of animals.  It's approach is positive and hopeful.  This is a book to read, to share, and to admire.

Holy Cow - David Duchovny

A cow, a pig, and a turkey walk onto a plane ....  I guess this book would be classified as absurdist humor.

Elsie is a dairy cow.  One night, through the farmer's window, she watches a documentary about factory farming.  Elsie always thought her mother abandoned her, but she discovers what really  happened to her mother and what her fate will be.  She also sees a program on the holy cows of India and decides to go there, where she'll be safe.

Word gets around on the farm.  Jerry the pig wants to leave the farm, too.  He wants to go to Israel, where they don't eat pigs.  Tom the turkey, who's starved himself in the hope that he won't be slaughtered in November, wants to go to Turkey.  He thinks they must respect turkeys there if they named their country after them.

Working together, they buy on-line airline tickets, steal clothing for disguises, and get on the plane.  But none of the places they hope will be safe havens are what they had hoped.  Israelis may not eat pork, but they also see pigs as unclean.  Jerry (who has asked to be called Shalom) and his friends have rocks thrown at them.  They briefly induce peace in the middle east when the Arabs and the Israelis join in mutual hatred of pigs.

Tom finds that, as a flightless modern turkey bred for meat, flying in an airplane is ecstasy.  He steals a plane and flies Elsie and Jerry around for further adventures.

You may not believe this, but I can't remember how this book ends.  And I only finished reading it on Sunday.  That means that I was totally unconscious when I finished the book or that it had a weak ending.  The book dwells lightly and briefly on the awful things that are routinely done to farm animals, suggests in a humorous way that animals are not unaware of their suffering or the suffering of other animals, and asks readers to respect animals and, perhaps, to think twice before eating one of them.

The author, David Duchovny, a well-known actor, is a vegetarian most of the time, according to a recent interview I read.  He says that he doesn't eat meat unless he goes to someone's house and they serve it.  He thinks it's wrong to waste an animal's life, so he eats it.  It's not clear to me if he cares that much about animals or if his focus is on the environmental degradation of factory farms (from which come 99% of all meat).

As an ethical vegan, who appreciates that not eating meat is also healthier for me and for the planet, I take this more seriously, so I had some trouble with the book.  To me, lamb chops, baby back ribs, or veal are just as horrifyingly repulsive as a nicely roasted human baby.  Maybe this sort of soft approach is more palatable for the general public.  If any readers side with the animals and stop eating meat, then, thank you Mr. Duchovny.