Animals and Why They Matter examines the barriers that our philosophical traditions have erected between human beings and animals and reveals that the too-often ridiculed subject of animal rights is an issue crucially related to such problems within the human community as racism, sexism, and age discrimination. Mary Midgley's profound and clearly written narrative is a thought-provoking study of the way in which the opposition between reason and emotion has shaped our moral and political ideas and the problems it has raised. Whether considering vegetarianism, women's rights, or the "humanity" of pets, this book goes to the heart of the question of why all animals matter.

In a world increasingly concerned with the human species and its future, Marian Stamp Dawkins argues that we need to rethink some of the fundamental questions regarding animal welfare. How are we justified in projecting human emotions on to animals? What kind of mental lives do they have? What can science tell us about their quality of life?

Nonhuman animals have many of the same feelings we do. They get hurt, they suffer, they are happy, and they take care of each other. Marc Bekoff, a renowned biologist specializing in animal minds and emotions, guides readers from high school age up—including older adults who want a basic introduction to the topic—in looking at scientific research, philosophical ideas, and humane values that argue for the ethical and compassionate treatment of animals. Citing the latest scientific studies and tackling controversies with conviction, he zeroes in on the important questions, inviting reader participation with "thought experiments" and ideas for action. Among the questions considered: • Are some species more valuable or more important than others? • Do some animals feel pain and suffering and not others? • Do animals feel emotions? • Should endangered animals be reintroduced to places where they originally lived? • Should animals be kept in captivity? • Are there alternatives to using animals for food, clothing, cosmetic testing, and dissection in the science classroom? • What can we learn by imagining what it feels like to be a dog or a cat or a mouse or an ant? • What can we do to make a difference in animals’ quality of life? Bekoff urges us not only to understand and protect animals—especially those whose help we want for our research and other human needs—but to love and respect them as our fellow beings on this planet that we all want to share in peace.

Peter Carruthers explores a variety of moral theories, arguing that animals lack direct moral significance.

All animals need food, water and shelter. But what about their social and emotional needs? Modern science tells us that animals experience a wide range of emotions—from fear and anxiety to friendship and happiness. What Animals Want is an animal-care book with a difference. It introduces young readers to the Five Freedoms and helps them think about their pets’ physical and emotional needs, providing a framework for thinking about the welfare of all animals in human care, including farm, exotic and wild animals. Author Jacqueline Pearce wrote this book in consultation with the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA), an organization internationally recognized for its innovative humane education and animal welfare work.

Stimulating and thought-provoking, this important new text looks at the welfare problems and philosophical and ethical issues that are caused by changes made to an animal's telos, behaviour and physiology, both positive and negative, to make them more productive or adapted for human uses. These changes may involve selective breeding for production, appearance traits, or competitive advantage in sport, transgenic animals or the use of pharmaceuticals or hormones to enhance production or performance. Changes may impose duties to care for these animals further and more intensely, or they may make the animal more robust. The book considers a wide range of animals, including farm animals, companion animals and laboratory animals. It reviews the ethics and welfare issues of animals that have been adapted for sport, as companions, in work, as ornaments, food sources, guarding and a whole host of other human functions. This important new book sparks debate and is essential reading for all those involved in animal welfare and ethics, including veterinarians, animal scientists, animal welfare scientists and ethologists.

Larry Carbone, a veterinarian who is in charge of the lab animal welfare assurance program at a major research university, presents this scholarly history of animal rights. Biomedical researchers, and the less fanatical among the animal rights activists will find this book reasonable, humane, and novel in its perspective. It brings a novel, sociological perspective to an area that has been addressed largely from a philosophical perspective, or from the entrenched positions of highly committed advocates of a particular position in the debate.

A compelling argument of how human health is adversely affected by our poor treatment of non-human animals. The author contents that in order to successfully confront the 21st Century's health challenges, we need to broaden the definition of the word 'public' in public health to include non-human animals.

Supply your library with the best collection of resources on animal issues! Animals are the Issue: Library Resources on Animal Issues is a guide to books, journals, and Web sites on historic and modern animal treatment. Expert librarians and scholars provide helpful resources showing what ideals and practical solutions exist in animal rights and welfare debates. With this book, students, philosophers, and politicians can find the best of written and electronic resources about the protection and ethical use of animals by humankind. Animals are the Issue stands alone as a source for locating materials on animal protection and welfare. This valuable guide will help librarians save time and money in locating diverse areas of information regarding animal consumption and exploitation. The authors have noted what they consider to be the most essential resources for library collections. This book offers references that discuss the utilization of animals by humans: as companions in sports and entertainment in religion in science and education in industry in hunting Animals Are the Issue explores how animals are seen, viewed, and used by humans. With bibliographies, annotated lists, and short commentaries by the authors on nearly every item, you’ll be able to supply your patrons with a highly effective animal rights/welfare collection.

The necessity for animal use in biomedical research is a hotly debated topic in classrooms throughout the country. Frequently teachers and students do not have access to balanced,  factual material to foster an informed discussion on the topic. This colorful, 50-page booklet is designed to educate teenagers about the role of animal research in combating disease, past and present; the perspective of animal use within the whole spectrum of biomedical research; the regulations and oversight that govern animal research; and the continuing efforts to use animals more efficiently and humanely.