Title:
Leaving the wild : the unnatural history of dogs, cats, cows, and horses / Gavin Ehringer.
Author:
Ehringer, Gavin, author.
Publication Information:
New York : Pegasus Books, 2017.
©2017
Call Number:
SF41 .E47 2017
Abstract:
"The domestication of animals changed the course of human history. But what about the animals who abandoned their wild existence in exchange for our care and protection? Domestication has proven to be a wildly successful survival strategy. But this success has not been without its drawbacks. A modern dairy cow's daily energy output equals that of a Tour de France rider. Feral cats overpopulate urban areas. And our methods of breeding horses and dogs have resulted in debilitating and sometimes lethal genetic diseases. But these problems and more can be addressed, if we have the will and the compassion. Human values and choices determine an animal's lot in life even before he or she is born. Just as a sculptor's hands shape clay, so human values shape our animal's for good and or ill. The little-examined, yet omnipresent act of breeding lies at the core of Gavin Ehringer's eye-opening book. You'll meet cows cloned from steaks, a Quarter horse stallion valued at $7.5 million, Chinese dogs that glow in the dark, and visit a Denver cat show featuring naked cats and other cuddly mutants. Is this what the animals bargained for all those millennia ago, when they first joined us by the fire?"--Amazon.com.
Edition:
First Pegasus Books cloth edition.
ISBN:
9781681775562
Physical Description:
xii, 356 pages ; 24 cm
General Note:
Includes index.
Contents:
1. Dogs -- A wolf among men -- The generic dog -- The first breeders -- England goes to the dogs -- A breed is born -- Pity the pit bull -- Let sleeping dogs lie -- 2. Cats -- Of mice and men (and cats) -- Cat cult culture -- Putting the evil in medieval -- Catching a break -- Life in the great indoors -- Alley cat blues -- Fancy cats -- 3. Cows -- The cheeseburger: a natural history -- Sex and the single cow -- Frankencattle? -- Three dairies, act one: the raw deal -- Three dairies, act two: cows in the machine -- Three dairies, act three: emerald pastures -- The moo-niverse --4. Horses -- Life on a horse ranch -- In the beginning -- Horses and humans -- When horsemen ruled the world -- Arabians, from breed to greed -- The all-American horse -- Conclusion -- A baker's dozen best practices of pet animal breeders.
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