You know me, I always love stories about animals. Here's one I read several years ago. Out of Harm's Way is about the experiences of Terri Crisp, who rescues animals from disaster sites: floods, fires, hurricanes, oil spills, earthquakes, etc. The stories in her book are both heartbreaking and inspiring. It was never an easy thing to reach frightened, often injured animals and get them to safety- the work took a lot of patience, courage and ingenuity. It's very sad to see the animals suffering- they have no idea what happened, are bewildered by the the sudden, traumatic change in their lives and often don't realize the rescuers are there to help them. Some were even purposefully abandoned by their owners. Most of the incidents involve cats and dogs, of course, but there are birds, horses and other livestock too. Besides stories about animal rescues, the book also contains information on how to prepare for an emergency with your pets in mind, and how to help animals you might find in trouble.I wrote this little bit because I remember enjoying this book when I read it, and admiring the work done by Crisp and her colleagues in its pages. I was unaware, until I began looking for other reviews to link to (and failed to find them- anyone?) that the author was fired from the animal rescue organization she worked for when she wrote it, supposedly for misuse of funds meant to help animals in Hurricane Katrina. I can't comment on that, as I just found out about it, and the information has not really colored my opinion of her book. I still think it's a good read!
Rating: 3/5 ........ 394 pages, 1996
Rescuing animals like that would be heartbreaking, yet rewarding work.
ReplyDeleteMy then-boyfriend's parents volunteered to do animal rescue work during Katrina, and it was a nightmare. I'll spare you the details because they are horrible - suffice it to say, the well-intentioned people trying to evacuate small animals from New Orleans could have used a book like this to tell them what to do.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side, here is a totally adorable story from Katrina (not too many of those out there): Some of the dolphins whose aquarium homes were destroyed got found because they started doing tricks for fishermen and things. Adorably!
That sounds like a book I'd enjoy. Horrible about the author misusing funds, though.
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