Ron Kagan shared his experiences, good and bad, in the zoological profession. And Matt Smith of the Central Virginia Parrot Sanctuary reminded me of the commitment that so many animal rescuers bring to this work. Judd Hanna gave me a disturbing case example of the NRA’s heavy hand with state fish and wildlife agencies and commissions. As a longtime dog breeder, Ted Paul drew the wrath of some within the dog-fancy world when he spoke out against puppy mills, yet he never strayed from doing the right thing for dogs.
Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group helped me sort through the tangle of agricultural subsidies in the United States, while Josh Reichert, Robert Martin, and Michael Blackwell, especially through their work on the Pew Commission on Industrialized Farm Animal Production, gave me and all of us a landmark and critical analysis on the problems associated with factory farming. I developed a friendship with Kevin Fulton, a Nebraska cattle rancher, during the writing of the book, and he reminded me that there are many people involved in agriculture who are willing to speak out about problems within the profession. I so enjoyed visiting his farm and seeing the animals.
In writing this book, I had the best faculty in animal protection behind me: the staff of the HSUS. On wildlife issues, I am grateful to Rebecca Aldworth, Stephanie Boyles, John Grandy, John Hadidian, Andy Page, Heidi Prescott, Naomi Rose, and Teresa Telecky. Sara Amundsen, Troy Seidel, and Martin Stephens shared their extraordinary knowledge of the use of animals in research, testing, and education.
John Goodwin and Ann Chynoweth helped by sharing their detailed knowledge of animal fighting. Jon Lovvorn and other HSUS in-house attorneys, including Peter Brandt, Peter Petersan, and Leana Stormont, provided support on many chapters, particularly those dealing with wildlife and farm animals. Jon, who spear-heads our animal protection litigation strategy, is one of the most talented and hardworking lawyers I’ve ever known.
I am grateful to HSUS’s incredible team of advocates and scientists working on farm animal welfare, including Paul Petersan, Josh Balk, and Sara Shields. I am indebted to Michael Greger, a medical doctor on our staff, whose scholarship on the intersection of animal agriculture and public health is incomparable. Paul Shapiro, senior director of our Factory Farming Campaign, is one of the most gifted animal advocates in the United States, and I so appreciated his guidance and suggestions.
On companion animal issues and on Hurricane Katrina, I am grateful to Carrie Allan, Adam Goldfarb, Betsy McFarland, Nancy Lawson, Laura Maloney, Cory Smith, Stephanie Shain, John Snyder, and Kathleen Summers, who provided information and helped me sharpen my understanding. Paula Kislak, a veterinarian and HSUS board member, focused my attention on hereditary and genetic problems among purebreds.
Christine Gutleben was my guide on the topic of animals and religion. I received much-needed help from Jennifer Fearing, Nancy Perry, and others in our public policy operation. Roger Kindler, our esteemed general counsel, gave me great advice, as always, and applied his exemplary care and scrutiny to the manuscript. Michael Markarian, our chief operating officer, is a tireless and brilliant colleague, and provided steadfast support and encouragement throughout this project. Andrew Rowan, our chief scientific and international officer, gave me the benefit of his unparalleled knowledge of scientific and technical matters relating to animal welfare.
I’ve worked for almost seventeen years at the HSUS, and it is truly a one-of-a-kind organization—the most influential and important group that the field of animal protection has ever known. I was appointed president and CEO by the board of directors in 2004, an event that marked a major moment in my life and, I hope, in the path of this organization. I have never forgotten the faith that two dozen elected board members placed in me at that time, and I have vowed never to give them cause to regret it. The trust we share, to steward a great organization and to make it greater, is a sacred one.
Whatever my debt to the whole board—and it is an incredible group of giving, selfless people—I would be remiss in not expressing my deepest gratitude to our then board chairman, Dr. David Wiebers. David is a visionary man who has helped the organization to navigate its way through many critical moments, including an election process with many outstanding candidates for the position of CEO.
Anita Coupe was vice chair at the time of my election, and no one was a more steadfast supporter. I’ll be forever grateful to her for that confidence, as well as for her active support of this book project, and it is truly my pleasure to work with her on a daily basis now that she’s been elected chair of the board. I must also express particular thanks to Joe Stewart and Patrick McDonnell for their incredible trust and support of me in my professional pathway and in this work; two finer friends I’ll never know. Two others in our current board leadership, Jennifer Leaning and Rick Bernthal, give so much of their time and energy to the organization, and we are so much the better for it. I also have an incalculable debt to Marian Probst, who is an HSUS board member, but has always been much more than that to me. She and Cleveland Amory founded the Fund, where I once worked. She was Cleveland’s close collaborator on his books, and I benefited from her advice and support in my own journey with this book.
There are a few folks who really dug in to help me with the research, editing, and framing of the whole work. Lewis Bollard was an HSUS intern from Harvard, who evinced an incredible understanding of our work, and he didn’t hesitate to sign on when I asked him to help. He was the first to see each chapter I turned out, and his edits and criticism immeasurably improved the book. I am grateful for his research concerning animal intelligence. I know he will do great things for the cause of animal protection once professors at the Yale Law School are done with him in a couple of years.
John Balzar is a remarkable journalist who shared a Pulitzer Prize at the Los Angeles Times and wrote an engaging and beautifully written book on the Yukon Quest before joining the HSUS staff as our head of communications. My book would be poorer but for his advice and guidance, especially his insistence that I infuse it with my voice and personal experiences. I could not be more grateful to him as a friend, colleague, and mentor.
My colleague Bernard Unti and I are about the same age, and we both came to the field of animal protection in our late teens. We’ve been friends from the beginning, and I’ve watched with pride as Bernie earned his PhD in history and distinguished himself as a leading historian of the humane movement. He has been unfailingly generous at every turn, and his imprint and perspective extend far beyond his own scholarship in the field of history. I am immensely grateful to him for his support and friendship.
John McConnell and Matthew Scully have been speechwriters for presidents, vice presidents, and presidential candidates for the last two decades, and they are gifted writers, editors, and thinkers. Matthew and I spent countless hours on Skype reading, debating, and honing the ideas in this work. Matthew is the finest writer I’ve known, and his own book, Dominion, is an incredible literary achievement and an inspiration to me. Not only do I consider him one of my dearest friends, but I am profoundly grateful every day that he’s used his special gifts to benefit the cause of animals.
I am also tremendously indebted to my fiancée, Lisa Fletcher, without whom this book would never have been completed. Writing a book in a year’s time was no small undertaking, especially since I maintained all of my duties as CEO of HSUS. But Lisa was unfailingly patient with me and gave me the support and space I needed to research and write. She too urged me at every turn to put my voice as well as my heart into it, and on long walks together, we talked about every detail, and the structure, narrative, and flow of this book emerged. Little did she realize that in encouraging me to use my voice, she would then have to suffer my reading the book aloud. She helped me immensely with my final revisions and notes.
Finally, I offer thanks to my family. My mother, Pat, taught me about kindness and compassion, and my father, Richard, who was a football coach, about competition and fair play. My life’s work to help animals has been propelled by the
lessons they’ve taught me. My brother, Richard, eleven years my senior, has been my greatest mentor throughout life. My sisters, Kim and Wendy, are among the most giving and generous people I know. As a son and a brother, I could not be more proud.
Much credit is due to the entire publishing team at William Morrow/HarperCollins for having the confidence in me to take up this project. My editor, Peter Hubbard, had great enthusiasm for the original idea. Throughout the process, he was a pleasure to work with, and his suggestions and editorial acumen sharpened this book greatly. My agent, Gail Ross, pushed me hard to construct the book proposal, knowing it was in me somewhere. During our discussions, Gail and her team locked in on the concept of “the bond,” and I am so grateful to them for their insight.
To each of the people named above, and to the others not properly acknowledged here, thank you. It’s been a decades-long ambition to pull together my thoughts in book form. I hope it helps advance a great and noble cause.
About the Author
During his seventeen years with the Humane Society of the United States, including seven years as president and CEO, WAYNE PACELLE has played a leading role in making HSUS, the nation’s largest animal protection charity, into a dynamic public force and voice for animals. Taking a special interest in law reform, he has been the leading strategist in getting animal-protection laws enacted by direct action of the electorate, designing winning campaigns in a dozen states for ballot initiatives that outlawed cockfighting, factory farming practices, bear baiting, and a host of other inhumane practices. He has become the voice and face of the humane movement in this country. Pacelle was named one of NonProfit Times’s “Executives of the year” for his leadership in responding to the Hurricane Katrina crisis. A graduate of Yale University, Pacelle lives in Washington, D.C.
Founded in 1954, The Humane Society of the United States is dedicated to confronting cruelty through public education, enforcement of humane laws, support of local humane organizations, investigations and litigation, and reform of public and corporate policies. The HSUS and its affiliates also provide veterinary services to remote areas, come to the aid of animals in natural disasters and incidents of large-scale cruelty, and operate a network of sanctuaries and rescue centers that directly care for thousands of animals each year. The HSUS family of organizations is supported by over 11 million people nationwide. Learn more at www.humanesociety.org, and join the humane movement!
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Credits
Jacket design by Mumtaz Mustafa
Jacket photography © by David Roth/Getty Images
Copyright
The Humane Society of the United States receives a portion of the advances paid by the publisher, and possible future royalties.
THE BOND. Copyright © 2011 by Wayne Pacelle and The Humane Society of the United States. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pacelle, Wayne.
The bond: our kinship with animals, our call to defend them / Wayne Pacelle.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-06-196978-2
1. Human-animal relationships. 2. Animal welfare. I. Title.
QL85.P33 2011
179'.3—dc22
2010046177
EPub Edition © APRIL 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-207901-5
11 12 13 14 15
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