Month: February 2010

by Ric Garvey

In 1946 Kenya\’s first wildlife park was formed, the Nairobi National Park, where animals were protected and the public could come to view and photograph them. Ric Garvey worked at the animal orphanage there, where injured and orphaned wildlife were cared for until they could be released, or found a new home in a zoo (a few remained at the orphanage their entire lives) Animal Orphanage not only tells about the author\’s experiences at the orphanage and the various animals they raised, but also of wildlife frequently observed in the surrounding area. Like No Room in the Ark, their opinions of the animals were often biased- the lion was considered noble, the camel haughty, the wild dog vile.

On the other hand, the writing is friendly and I enjoyed most of the stories. There are flamingos rescued from a dried-up lake, an infant giraffe coaxed to accept a bottle using marshmallows, chimps who steal glasses from visitors, a buffalo who refused freedom and wanted to return to his cage, and a rhino who repeatedly charged a train when the first railroad was built (the rhino lost). I also enjoyed the few bits of African folklore explaining things like how the leopard got his spots, or why a rhino spreads his dung around (these are not friendly children\’s stories like Rudyard Kipling!) There was also a most curious case of an unknown disease which spread through the orphanage, attacking only the cats. One leopard survived, his body covered in scabs. Astonishingly, his coat lost its beautiful colors and was all black and grey. After he healed, his usual colors returned. The author attributed this to something in sunlight, but when I searched online for an explanation, I could find none (all my google attempts coming up with info about sick geckos).

It was interesting to come across in the pages of Animal Orphanage reference to other books I own or have read. One of their lions, Ugas, was given to the Adamsons and used in the filming of Born Free. I\’m pretty sure I\’ve read about Ugas in one of the Adamson\’s books. Another lion went to live in the Whipsnade zoo, where Gerald Durrell worked during his apprenticeship. And when describing the physical attributes of the giant forest hog, Garvey quotes \”Mr. C.T. Astley Maberly in his most accurate book Animals of East Africa\”. This sounded familiar, so I searched my shelves and came up with that very book (as yet unread), a field guide to African wildlife.

Rating 3/5 ……… 168 pages, 1967

Well, I have actually been reading quite a bit lately (about houseplants and wildlife orphanages!) but not getting a lot of computer time to post. My husband is on his third snow day off work, and we\’re all enjoying being holed up here. Thought I\’d share a few photos of what it looks like outside my door. Thirty inches! (I took my yardstick out the first day after the storm). It took me an hour to shovel a path from our door to the car, and another two to get the driveway clear (which would have been impossible if a friendly neighbor who owns a snowblower hadn\’t helped me out. The snowplow literally made a wall between my driveway and the street!) My daughter loves the snow, and apparently so does my cat! (Those photos were taken after I brushed the first twenty-five inches off the top of my car, while it was still snowing. My sister told me a story about too much snow busting the windshield of her car during the last big snowstorm some years ago, and I didn\’t want that to happen to me! Probably not likely, but you never know!)

Hope everyone else is safe and cozy as well. I\’m off to read more about green thumbs and lions.

The snowmen were made last week (when we just had a few inches). Here\’s what they look like now!

the Crusade of a Northwoods Veterinarian
by Rory C. Foster

This short book is about a vet who set up the first hospital and rehabilitation center specifically for wildlife, in Wisconsin during the 1980s. At the time there was no training available for wildlife vets; he learned as he went by studying books about the different species\’ anatomy and applying his knowledge of veterinary science. It all started when a fawn was struck by a car and someone brought it to the animal hospital. Up until then Dr. Foster had only treated the usual dogs, cats and other pets, but he was willing to help out this injured wild creature. Foster and his wife raised the fawn in their house, eventually setting it free to live in the wild. More and more people began bringing him wildlife in need of care, until he realized he had more wild animals occupying cages in his hospital than pets, and would have to either give up treating them or build a separate suite just for their care. He did so, as a non-profit, dedicated to helping wild animals free of charge.

Surprisingly, his efforts to fund and build the Northwoods Wildlife Hospital and Rehabilitation Center were met with a lot of opposition from the local community, including the forestry department whose job it was to manage wildlife. Back then, many people held the attitude that wild animals only had value as a resource for mankind- so they saw Foster\’s work as wasted effort on animals that would probably die soon anyways- shot by hunters or killed by predators. I have a hard time understand that mentality, but it must have been rampant for all the resistance Foster faced in trying to establish his wildlife hospital. He also had to deal with the issue of local roadside zoos, who existence he was adamantly opposed to. He did not want to cure their animals which had been neglected or mistreated, only to have them return to living in small cages and deplorable conditions. Eventually he had to make a policy of refusing to treat their animals. He would only help wild animals that were going to be released again into the wild, or -if they were unfit for that- kept in a good zoo or wildlife sanctuary.

Aside from all that, I enjoyed as always, the stories about the animals themselves. The writing is easygoing and some of the tales are pretty funny. Many of Foster\’s patients were deer, orphaned or struck by cars. He also treated a lot of birds injured in one way or another- eagles, owls, herons, even an osprey. One was a gull with cancer (the only treatment being surgery). Some of the other animals he cared for included a porcupine, a white arctic wolf, and an infant otter. Overall, Dr. Wildlife was a good, quick read. The man was very passionate about his work and had a good sense of humor as well, both of which shine through the pages.

Rating: 3/5 …….. 182 pages, 1985

The winner of my latest book giveaway (says random.org) is #1, Marjorie. Congrats Marjorie! It might be a little while before I can get to the post office, due to heavy snows in our area. I can\’t really get out of my house yet, there are 32 inches of snow outside my door! But as soon as the roads are safe, I\’ll be shipping it out.

Extraordinary Stories of Hope and Healing from One of the World\’s Leading Veterinary Hospitals
by Vicki Croke

I seem to be on a kick of reading books about veterinarians lately. After finishing Tell Me Where it Hurts and The Cat Who Couldn\’t See in the Dark, I naturally dug through my TBR shelves to see if I had any more. Found this one, a slim book called Animal ER, written by a journalist who was allowed to shadow doctors and residents around the intensive care unit of the animal hospital at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine.

This is not a very long book, but it still took me some time to get through it, probably because somehow it didn\’t have a deep emotional pull. The writing is rather dry, and the stories, while very intense, are pretty brief, some no longer than a few sentences. (In that way it reminded me a lot of Intern). Each chapter of Animal ER has a kind of focus, the first being an introduction to the hospital itself, and the particular \”culture\” of the ICU staff- dress, code of conduct, lingo, etc. Following that, the subjects include dogs with GDV or \”bloat\”, car crash victims, animals that have gone into septic shock, dogs that swallow foreign objects, and a variety of serious illnesses. One chapter covers a number of cases where doctors and owners had to agonize over animals that seemed beyond help, and whether they should try further or put them to sleep. Another two chapters cover what goes on in the wildlife section of the hospital. There\’s even a discussion about bringing back to life animals that have actually died on the table (issues and morals abound), about the difficulties of trying to treat aggressive animals that don\’t want to be handled, and the many cases where an owner saw the symptoms early on but didn\’t realize the severity of a condition, bringing an animal in almost too late, or conversely (and with more chance of happy outcomes!) cases that looked horrendous, causing owners to panic- but turned out to be mild problems after all. The actual background stories are few and brief, lacking a depth I usually appreciate- but at the same time I got an overwhelming sense of how busy a veterinarian ICU must be, and of how compassionate the people are who work there are. It also amazed me to see all the things medical technology is now capable of doing for pets (yet at such a staggering cost). Some of the stories in this book are nothing less than miraculous, though others are sure to make you cry. Warning: if you don\’t like to read about animals suffering, this book is definitely not for you. There are just as many unhappy endings as ones where the pet gets to go home again.

One name that kept jumping out at me with familiarity while I read was Nicholas Dodman. I finally had to go look in my own index to find the name- of course! He wrote The Cat Who Cried for Help, about felines seen at the university\’s animal behavioral clinic.

I got this book free, from The Book Thing.

Rating 3/5 …….. 194 pages, 1999

by E. Nesbit

I first encountered the author E. Nesbit when my mother read Five Children and It to us as bedtime stories. It wasn\’t until a few years ago that I stumbled across The Complete Book of Dragons, while browsing in the public library. This book contains eight story stories about dragons, first published in The Book of Dragons, plus one newer story. They\’re all fun adventures, in a variety of settings with protagonists ranging from princesses and knights to ordinary children. Sometimes the dragons are evil, sometimes good, sometimes in between. In one, a dragon escapes from the pages of a storybook and ravages a town. In another, a dragon purrs to calm a baby. There are some traditional kinds of tales where brave heroes seek out the dragons for battle, and other more curious ones about dragons treated kindly, or doing good deeds themselves (or just being greedy, as in the one who ate a herd of hippos!). All with the lively flair and originality of Nesbit\’s writing. Good reading, if you like fantasy! I would say this book is written for ages 8-12, but I enjoyed it just as much myself.

Rating: 3/5 ……. 198 pages, 1900

Veterinary Mysteries and Advice on Feline Care and Behavior 
by Howard Padwee and Valerie Moolman

Another book about veterinary work! (They\’re among my favorites). Although this vet of a small-animal practice in New York city has treated everything from snakes to dogs, the book is mostly about cats. Each chapter contains a few related tales of cats he treated, sprinkled liberally with advice on their care. It covers forty years of his practice (often stating \”things were different back then\”) so some of the information might be a little dated, and I did notice the book has received a lot of criticism (on Amazon) because the vet recommended declawing indoor cats. Myself, I had some issues with the people keeping wild animals like raccoons and monkeys as pets in city apartments! Nevertheless, the stories were still engaging, even though the writing style is fairly simple.

Among the cats we meet in the pages of The Cat Who Couldn\’t See in the Dark are many who suffer from common ailments like fleas infestations, obesity, falls and swallowing needles and thread. Then there\’s one who accidentally gets shut inside a freezer, another who develops a habit for drinking alcohol, and even a cat that finds a dropped joint on the floor during a party and consumes marijuana. I was really captivated by the tale an obsessed lady who horded cats and fed all strays she could find on the street told of meeting an even crazier cat lady!  I also really like the chapter heading illustrations by Barbara Smullen, in a textured kind of pen and ink work called stippling. There is some similar work in her online shop. The artist kindly permitted me to share some of her illustrations from the book with you:

(click on any image for a larger view)

I got this book from Paperback Swap

Rating: 3/5 ……… 235 pages, 1997

Original Essays on Becoming a Mother
edited by Christina Baker Kline

A collection of essays on new motherhood, Child of Mine offers insights and honest perspectives from the experiences of new mothers who are all writers. Moms from all walks of life take a piercing look at what their first year of motherhood was like- with all of the mess, fatigue, insecurities, wonder and joy. Some of the stories are heartwarming, others sad, contemplative or just downright hilarious. Their focus may vary- from adoption, to breastfeeding, postpartum depression, struggles with poverty, feeling overwhelmed, dealing with colic, etc- and the writing styles are all different too. But the honesty and emotional intensity is a common thread, that ties all the various voices together. Whatever doubts and questions a new mother is struggling with, this book is pretty sure to have an answer in it somewhere- not a pat, dismissive everything-will-be-okay answer, but the compassion of understanding, of having been there and come through the difficulties. Now I need to find me a book like this about toddlers!

I read this book several years ago, borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5 ……. 333 pages, 1997

An Inquiry into the Ancestry, Social Conventions, Mental Habits and Moral Fiber of Canis familiaris
by Stephen Budiansky

Just as The Character of Cats explores how cats have evolved to live alongside humans (while still keeping their independence) The Truth About Dogs examines what makes dogs such a perfect fit with people, how they might have first become domesticated, and what is going on when the modern human-dog companionship has issues (think behavior problem dogs). In this book Budiansky talks about dog evolution, genetics, behavior, physiology and much more. Sometimes I got lost in the details of exactly how their senses work or why genetic evolution and breeding have shaped them into the forms we know today. But overall it was pretty interesting. I kept getting the idea that the author was implying that everything a dog does- from his favorite game of chase to begging for food or snuggling near a person for petting- is simply instinctual behavior hardwired by their genes. That all the endearing things dogs do as well as their more annoying habits, are caused by how domestication has mixed up the behavior patterns they inherited from wolves. Budiansky makes it pretty clear though, that even as he can pick apart a dog\’s motives and demonstrate that they don\’t have ESP or really love us unconditionally, he still loves and admires them. One thing is sure, I never realized how very differently a dog sees the world- not only in his perception of color, scent and sound but his perspective on social nuances and priorities. Dogs really are amazing creatures, not the least because even being so utterly different from us, they have ways of relating so well that they have become our closest animal companions. Any dog owner is sure to appreciate this book. It will open your eyes!

I borrowed this book from the public library.

Rating: 3/5 …….. 263 pages, 2000

More opinions at:
Writing About Reading
the Stay at Home Bookworm

DISCLAIMER:

All books reviewed on this site are owned by me, or borrowed from the public library. Exceptions are a very occasional review copy sent to me by a publisher or author, as noted. Receiving a book does not influence my opinion or evaluation of it

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