The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint

by Marc Bekoff

Overview

In this inspirational call to action, Marc Bekoff, the world’s leading expert on animal emotions, gently shows that improving our treatment of animals is a matter of rethinking our many daily decisions and “expanding our compassion footprint.” He demonstrates that animals experience a rich range of emotions, including empathy and compassion, and that they clearly know right from wrong. Driven by moral imperatives and pressing environmental realities, Bekoff offers six compelling reasons for changing the way we treat animals — whether they’re in factory farms, labs, circuses, or our vanishing wilderness. The result is a well-researched, informative guide that will change animal and human lives for the better.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781577316497
Publisher:	New World Library
Publication date:	02/09/2010
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 8.04(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Dr. Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is a scholar-in-residence at the University of Denver’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Our Common Bonds of Compassion 1

Reason 1 All Animals Share the Earth and We Must Coexist 23

Reason 2 Animals Think and Feel 53

Reason 3 Animals Have and Deserve Compassion 79

Reason 4 Connection Breeds Caring, Alienation Breeds Disrespect 103

Reason 5 Our World Is Not Compassionate to Animals 127

Reason 6 Acting Compassionately Helps All Beings and Our World 177

Acknowledgements 213

Endnotes 215

References 237

Index 249

About the Author 261

Editorial Reviews

“The Animal Manifesto is Marc Bekoff’s gentle challenge that we all go a little further in extending the boundaries of our compassion toward nonhuman animals. I found it hard to resist the call of a work so brimming with awe, insight, and optimism concerning the creatures who share our world. You will too.”
— Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States

“We need books like this. We need writers like Marc Bekoff to remind us of the emotional lives of animals and of our mismanagement of the wild. We need to be reminded that we share this world with other animals, that we do not own it, that we do not even run it. We ignore all of this not only at our peril, but to our great loss.”
— Martha Grimes, bestselling author of Dakota and The Blue Last

“Marc Bekoff's brilliant and beautiful The Animal Manifesto is as important a book on our commonalities with other species as Darwin's book on emotional expression. It will lead you in a moving fashion to reconsider your own origins and will guide you toward uplifting actions that will make for a healthier fate of our human earth. It is essential reading.
— Dacher Keltner, author of Born To Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley

“For more than thirty years, Marc Bekoff has occupied a unique niche in the social movement to advance moral concern for animals, functioning as a fearless scientist relentlessly pressing the scientific community to recognize the reality of animal thought, feeling, and emotion; as a philosopher articulating the grounds for an expanded moral vision of animals; and as a tireless advocate for justice for all creatures. In The Animal Manifesto, he has distilled his knowledge and efforts into a document that should inspire all of us to ‘expand our compassion footprint’ in thought and action. Bekoff is incapable of writing a boring paragraph, and his text is peppered with unforgettable anecdotes as well as fascinating scientific data. I strongly recommend this book.”
— Bernard E. Rollin, bioethicist and professor of philosophy, animal sciences, and biomedical sciences at Colorado State University

“Proof that animals are wistful, altruistic, tender, jealous, and conversational. But are these interesting facts to use to enliven a cocktail party, or do human obligations ensue when we realize that the intelligent life forms we seek in space are all around us here on earth? Marc Bekoff’s challenge to humanity to relate to those on the plate — and in other places no sentient being deserves to be — is riveting reading that may occupy your thoughts long after the last page is turned and the lights are out.”
— Ingrid E. Newkirk, founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

“Marc Bekoff at his best! He enhances our respect and understanding of animals using the science of ethology and philosophical inquiry to explain their behavior, and in the process awakens our compassionate concern for all creatures great and small.”
— Dr. Michael W. Fox, veterinarian, syndicated columnist, and author of Dog Body, Dog Mind and Cat Body, Cat Mind

“As a humane educator, I am always searching for books about pressing global issues that teach through critical thinking and inspire us to deeply embody our values. Marc Bekoff has written a superb book, with a gentle voice, one that will make each reader a better person and will go far to creating a more compassionate world for animals. He offers us crucial knowledge about animals, ignites our curiosity, and fosters our reverence, respect, and responsibility. I’ve never read a more convincing and powerful call for compassion. You will be changed by this book. It will be required reading for my students.”
— Zoe Weil, president of the Institute for Humane Education and author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education

From the Publisher