How animals moved into our hearts and homes | Lifestyle

Maybe you have room for someone else.

The image of this rescue animal touches your heart. Those soft eyes, little ears, fat, furry paws, and another dog or cat in the family wouldn’t matter, would they? After all, what’s a home without pets? In the new book Our Dear Creatures by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy, you’ll see how animals have moved into our hearts and homes.

In the early part of American history, animals were often viewed as tools.

The horses were intended for pulling or carrying. Livestock, for meat or hides. Even the creatures we cherish as pets today were kept to hunt rats and moose, and this bothered Henry Berg. He had seen too many exhausted horses flogged to death in the streets of New York by frustrated humans, and he knew the laws were lax or nonexistent, so in 1866, he founded America’s first animal protection organization.

However, it took time to change minds: new local laws meant new ways of looking at animals as living beings, not as equipment. Enforcement of such laws was aided by social pressure targeting animal abusers, aiming to stop their violent actions, and sentiment spread: In 1872, Congress passed a law to make railroad cars for livestock more humane. Other influential activists joined Berg in his work to change the way animals were treated in America, and over time, animal protection societies sprang up across the United States to protect all creatures. Thus, these communities helped clean up the environment: when horses were not abused on the streets, fewer died on the sidewalks.

But neither Berg nor his contemporaries stopped at horses, pigs, or cattle. Pets enjoyed a new domestic status and medical schools began using fewer live animals to train new doctors. Attitudes towards animals as entertainment changed, including the lives of circus elephants and racehorses. In 1874, Berg saw an unmet need, and this was at a time when his Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals lobbied to be able to protect children as well.

Here’s a warning about Our Dear Creatures: Here you’ll find a lot of hard-to-read stuff, specifically, details about abused, killed, harmed, and dead animals. Will winced. You will want to look away. trust.

Be brave, and you’ll find a story full of animals, action, and fire-stopping situations. Authors Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy don’t perfect this story, but they speak directly to animal lovers with this book, starting the tale early in our nation’s history and moving it toward a topic within a topic. Once you reach the final pages, the authors ask you to think further ahead. Can we do better?

For most readers, the answer will lie in the bulk of this book, where the process from kennel and barn to big bed is presented supported by other bits of history to create a fascinating story with a few goodies included. If you’re an animal lover, all you need to know is that Our Dear Creatures is a book you’ll make room for.