New Book Shows Mark Twain an Early Advocate Against Animal Cruelty

A new book by author and Stanford professor Shelly Fisher Fishkin reveals that Mark Twain was an early advocate against animal cruelty. Called Mark Twain's Book of Animals, the book contains a number of his writing about animals. From the review:

Twain writes about cruelty to animals in a range of contexts, criticizing, for example, the insensitivity involved in the exploitation of animals for sport or entertainment. Twain may have been the first American to call attention to the brutality of the so-called sport of cockfighting, which he describes in graphic detail.

Several pieces express Twain’s contempt for the idea of hunting for sport, including a memorable passage from a sequel to Huckleberry Finn in which Huck shoots a bird and feels immediate remorse and shame (“Huck Shoots a Bird”). Another text in the book--from an unpublished piece of autobiographical writing -- makes it clear that Twain based this account on an experience he had himself as a child (“Assassin”).

Twain wrote a searing account of an English earl’s behavior on a buffalo hunt (in “Man’s Place in the Animal World”) and wrote an impassioned anti-bullfighting novella (A Horse’s Tale).

Interesting. The book also contains writings by Twain against vivisection.

You can buy it here.

Help Release Chimps from Medical Research

Visit this site. Project R&R is a campaign of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society.

ASPCA To Break Ground on New Anti-Cruelty Insitute

Here's something to look forward to in 2008...and it's about time!

The ASPCA will break ground on the nation's first Anti-Cruelty Institute in New York in 2008. This institute will be dedicated to educating veterinarians and law enforcement officials with specialized training necessary to recognize and respond to animal cruelty. The facility, scheduled to open in 2010, will include a forensic laboratory and veterinary hospital, a treatment center for animals that are victims of cruelty, as well as educational training and other programs.

“The ASPCA's Anti-Cruelty Institute will allow us to set even higher standards in the recognition, prevention and fight against animal cruelty the commitment on which our organization was founded,” said Sayres. “The Institute will bring together the best and brightest animal welfare respondents from around the world, in an environment where they can most benefit from the ASPCA's unique breadth and depth of animal welfare/anti-cruelty expertise. The Institute will truly help us take the fight against animal cruelty to a new level.”

Photo by Triborough.