When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Here Masson (Dogs Never Lie About Love) makes the case that the animals humans eat on a regular basis pigs, chickens, sheep, cows and ducks feel, think and suffer. The horrors have been pointed out before that factory farm chickens are genetically altered, debeaked without anesthesia, and crammed into overcrowded coops that calves are separated from their mothers and kept in dark crates to become veal. Shattering the abhorrent myth of the “dumb animal without feelings,” Jeffrey Masson has written a revolutionary book that is sure to stir human emotions far and wide. Chickens are naturally sociable–they will gather around a human companion and stand there serenely preening themselves or sit quietly on the ground beside someone they trust.įor far too long farm animals have been denigrated and treated merely as creatures of instinct rather than as sentient beings. Goats display quite a sense of humor, dignity, and fearlessness (Indian goats have been known to kill leopards). Given a choice between food that is nutritious or lacking in minerals, sheep will select the former, balancing their diet and correcting the deficiency.

Mother cows mourn the loss of their calves when their babies are taken away to slaughter. They dream, know their names, and can see colors. In fact, there is much that humans share with pigs. Curious, intelligent, self-reliant–many will find it hard to believe that these attributes describe a pig. The obvious conclusion: They cannot be happy when confined twenty to a cage.įrom field and barn, to pen and coop, Masson bears witness to the emotions and intelligence of these remarkable farm animals, each unique with distinct qualities. Chickens, for instance, like to perch in trees at night, to avoid predators and to nestle with friends. Farm animals suffer greatly in this regard. But Jeffrey Masson has a different view: An animal is happy if it can live according to its own nature. Can we ever know what makes an animal happy? Many animal behaviorists say no. Weaving history, literature, anecdotes, scientific studies, and Masson’s own vivid experiences observing pigs, cows, sheep, goats, and chickens over the course of five years, this important book at last gives voice, meaning, and dignity to these gentle beasts that are bred to be milked, shorn, butchered, and eaten. Now, he focuses exclusively on the contained world of the farm animal, revealing startling, irrefutable evidence that barnyard creatures have feelings too, even consciousness. Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson’s groundbreaking bestseller, When Elephants Weep, was the first book since Darwin’s time to explore emotions in the animal kingdom, particularly from animals in the wild.

When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson