Animal Welfare and Human Values

Peter Martin is a senior projects editor at the University of Ottawa
Press.

This interesting book addresses issues fraught with peril for writers
trying to find a sensible middle ground between hunters, fishers, and
chicken ranchers, on one side, and animal rights activists and the more
radical liberationists, on the other. The authors are very even-handed
in their descriptions and judgments of our day-to-day relations with
other species. A few practices—battery hens, steeplechasing, for
example—are accepted, provided the animals are always treated with
respect.

Judgments aside, a lot of the book is devoted to an interesting and
informative survey of our current dealings with animals. Hunting,
fishing, and trapping are discussed, as are circuses, animals in movies
and television, and animals as household members.

Why is it okay to slaughter fleas to make our dog more comfortable? Why
should we treat mammals better than reptiles? Where do we get the right
to interfere at all in the lives of other species? Preece and
Chamberlain conclude that there is no logic here: we must make choices.
The choices they make, and recommend, are clearly and (given the
passions the subject arouses) bravely set forth in this provocative and
informative book.