I am specifically not rating this book, as I have only read some of it and realized I don't want to read about the details of how cruel humans can be to others. I am sure it is a well-written book and is important for some to read, just not me.

If you are already knowledgable about and active in the animal welfare movement, there's not much in this book that will be news to you. This is, however, an excellent introduction and overview of animal welfare history and issues. A great title for high school library collections. ( )

On the cover of the New York Times Bestseller, The Bond by Wayne Pacelle, depicts a young child hugging a dog in a field and immediately the readers thoughts are that this is a book about the bond we feel to our animal friends/pets but do not be deceived.

Wayne Pacelle is the President and CEO for the Humane Society of the United States and author of this novel. In it, the reader is exposed to the practices that go on around the world in regards to the treatment of animals, from puppy mills, slaughterhouses that produce our meat products, dog fighting and other animal blood sports such as hunting, National Park malpractices, science labs, fur industry businesses, and reckless breeding practices. The stories contained in this book are not for the faint of heart and likely to produce quite a few vegetarians after reading this book.

This book takes cruelty to animals to a whole new level exposing about every single possibility you can think of. This is definitely a pro-life book at the protection against animals everywhere and a definite must read if you have no idea of what goes on when it comes to anything to do with animals and animal rights. I'm sure you've all heard of one animal protection group at one time or another and this book takes a great majority of those situations and compiles them into one concise book.

I received this book compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and honestly believed this to be a book about the bond we share with our animal friends. Even so, looking at it in its entirety, as a reader who may be a bit naive on the subject of the practices of some forms of animal cruelty, this was an eye opener. The one thing I did love is a chapter devoted to things you can do to lend a hand to preventing animal cruelty and loads of tips and websites to check into. I highly recommend this book to readers who are against animal cruelty and for anyone wanting to know more into what goes on when it comes to the care and uses of our animal friends. For me, as a Christian, I personally feel an obligation to care for our animals as the stewards of the Earth that God has placed in our hands. For that reason I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars. ( )

The author of THE BOND: OUR KINSHIP WITH ANIMALS, OUR CALL TO DEFEND THEM is Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). If you’ve ever checked his articles on www.hsus.org or on his Facebook page, you already know about his passion for animal issues. His concerns on the Internet are obvious, too, in this book with its theme of human responsibility to animals.

THE BOND begins with description of the bond we have had with animals through the ages. From there, Pacelle covers so much, but always there is this: because of our bond with animals, we have a responsibility to protect them.

As anyone who owns a dog or cat knows, animals have feelings, they can be happy and sad. But through the years, says Pacelle, many humans have not believed that and so have justified their mistreatment of animals. So he devotes part of his book to showing us proof that animals do have feelings. And if we know they have feelings, he says, we know that animals aren’t just things, and we have a responsibility to protect these defenseless creatures.

That goes for all animals, Pacelle says. While many of us think of HSUS as advocates for dogs and cats, in reality, HSUS is just as concerned about other animals, such as chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs, animals that are big business when they exist for human consumption.

Through his first-hand experiences with these animals’ circumstances, Pacelle describes the horrid conditions in which they live and die. The point of these stories that are so difficult to read is, we have a bond with these animals, too, and so a responsibility to know they do not live in misery. This is regardless of whether we eat eggs or meat.

Of course, it’s easiest for us to see and feel our bond with our pets. Although Pacelle doesn’t have to convince us of that, he does describe the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when so many people were forced to leave their pets behind when they left home for shelter. Because of their bond with these animals, some people refused to leave their homes without their pets, others went to great lengths to locate their pets afterward. Therefore, government has recognized our bond with our pets and now is acting on the necessity for disaster preparedness in the future to include these animals.

Subsequent chapters cover examples of horrible pet abuse we probably were not aware of, abuse our own pets may have suffered before they came to us. The most surprising to me was Pacelle’s indictment of the American Kennel Club (AKC). They seem more interested in the money they get when they grant AKC certification to puppies than in knowing how those puppies are living and whether they are healthy. So a puppy mill can sell a puppy with AKC certification, and that doesn’t mean anything other than AKC knows the lineage is “pure,” i.e., the dogs are all of the same breed. Of course, that means there’s probably been some inbreeding and, therefore, horrible genetic problems exist and are perpetuated. The unsuspecting buyer doesn’t know that their puppy came from a puppy mill. Also, because AKC makes money certifying these puppies, AKC refuses to back any plan to base judging in dog shows on dogs’ health and well being.

My favorite chapter gave examples of statements people make to justify ignoring their bond with animals and doing nothing to help them. He gives simple arguments we can make when we are confronted with this. For example, if you don’t eat meat because of the abuses to cows by big agribusiness, when someone says, “If you won’t eat meat, then you shouldn’t wear leather shoes.” Argument: “You’re making a case for doing nothing because I can’t do everything.”

For those who care about animals, sometimes this book is difficult to read because of all the real-life examples of abuses to animals. If this is you, just take a break between chapters. But do read it.

This is such an important book! Everyone should read it. We all need to know what Pacelle emphasizes: we’ve always had a bond with all animals, so we have a responsibility to see that they are not abused and to do what we can to discourage abuse. ( )

This book covers every aspect of our relationship with animals. We go back in time to the early origins of our bond with animals and learn how our relationships evolved. We journey from factory farms to loving farmers, from those who profit from dogfights to those who dedicate their lives to saving those same dogs. Wayne Pacelle touches on the most horrific, as well as the best, of our interaction and treatment of the animals whose world we share.

The politics behind our laws and the power of the lobbyists whose clients profit from all forms of animal abuse is staggering. For those already familiar with these stories, this book is a important reminder. For others, this book will be a stark awakening. For all, this is a heartfelt plea for those whose voices go unheard.

** I received this book as an early review copy from HarperCollins through NetGalley. ** ( )