Defending the Defenseless: A Guide to Protecting and Advocating for Pets - Hardcover

Phillips (How Shelter Pets Are Brokered for Experimentation: Understanding Pound Seizure) provides us with a comprehensive guide to becoming an advocate for animals. A lawyer and staunch animal advocate herself, the author has extensive experience volunteering in animal shelters and working to promote legislation that is in the best interests of animals. She gives readers numerous and specific options for getting involved and discusses the best way to get started. She also makes readers aware of some lesser-known animal welfare concerns, such as questionable practices that may be in place at their local animal shelters. Phillips does a good job of presenting the issues in an objective manner, giving voice to people on both sides of the argument, and she is careful to make a distinction between animal advocates and animal activists, since the term activist sometimes has a negative connotation. Verdict This manual for animal advocacy is an excellent choice for readers looking for community service opportunities that will benefit animals. * Library Journal * In this detailed how-to book, which addresses every imaginable aspect of animal advocacy, there's no denying that attorney and animal rights advocate Phillips knows her stuff. Phillips encourages readers to become part of the solution through a variety of advocacy techniques, even breaking out activities by age group for kids, including specific activities for middle school students (building a wildlife feeder) or high school students (constructing a dog house). On the business side, Phillips identifies attorneys who are making a difference in pet advocacy as well as successful lobbyists, and provides contact names and states for individuals in each group. Straightforward and well-organized....the book would be the perfect textbook or reference for a college class or community outreach program. * Publishers Weekly * Defending the Defenseless is for anyone who wants to join a growing crusade to bring animal protection to its rightful place in a civilized society. This book guides readers through the variety of ways they can help companion animals and offers practical tips to get involved, from donating money to volunteering at animal shelters, from opposing animal experimentation to raising children to protect animals. Phillips shares her own personal experiences protecting animals, which she describes as 'some involve outrageous joy, and others involve life-altering devastation.' * Foreword Reviews * Animals in need: with every new crisis in the animal community, the desire to bring about change can be overwhelming. But where does one start? Allie Phillips-author, attorney, advocate for animals and someone with an almost unbelievable ability to implement change on the ground-has written a highly useful guide to getting involved. Phillips begins with the basics of volunteer work, then quickly moves into more informative territory, including explanations of the essential language (e.g., do you support rights or animal welfare?), opportunities in public education, how to help feral cats, animal transport, lobbying, emergency preparedness and models of best practices around the country, among other issues. Phillips writes with confidence and conviction, and offers a steady hand to the hesitant advocate. * Bark Magazine * This book is at once a how-to manual and an inspirational piece. Drawing on her own journey to becoming an animal advocate, Allie shares her encyclopedic knowledge of the animal protection field to give us practical advice on how to get involved-and how to keep moving forward in the face of obstacles. Whether your passion is puppy mills, feral cats, legislative change, or shelter reform, Defending the Defenseless will make us all better advocates on behalf of our animal friends. For anyone ready to take the next step to speak up and speak out for animals, your guidebook has arrived. -- Maya Gupta Ph.D, executive director, Ahimsa House, Inc. Allie Phillips has crafted a thoughtful, refreshingly personal and comprehensive guide for anyone seeking to become more involved with helping the animals who share our world. Whether you are taking 'baby steps' in making humane life-style changes, getting involved with your local animal shelter, or taking the great leap into starting your own group to advocate for animals, this book provides hundreds of valuable tips to get you started, keep you focused and keep you sane while doing great things. This is a must read for all seeking to put caring into action. -- Randall Lockwood Ph.D, Forensic Sciences and Anti-cruelty Projects, ASPCA In Defending the Defenseless, Allie Phillips provides a thorough and comprehensive overview and instruction of Trap-Neuter-Return, the program that benefits both cats and the community. We are a nation of animal lovers, and Phillips delivers valuable ideas for harnessing that love and putting it to work to protect animals. -- Becky Robinson, Alley Cat Allies If you are new to animal advocacy, this book is much more than a how-to manual. It provides those yearning to make a difference for animals with both a roadmap and a call to action. It also reminds experienced advocates why they became involved in this gratifying yet emotionally demanding cause. -- Beatrice M. Friedlander, Animals and Society Institute In Defending the Defenseless, Allie Phillips guides us through a vast spectrum of practical ways that all people, with varying levels of experience and involvement, can help protect companion animals. Through numerous motivating and inspiring examples, she demonstrates the power of individual action and encourages fostering a more compassionate world. Anyone who cares about animals should read this book and share it widely! -- Meena Alagappan Esq., Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (HEART), Executive Director As an attorney, lobbyist, advocate and rescuer, Allie Phillips is unquestionably a pioneer of the animal welfare movement. She has laid out a very frank, personal account of what it can be like to maneuver around the intransigence of the management of some shelters, the ego and self-interest of some in the movement, and the entrenched economic and political interests that seemingly stonewall efforts to improve animal welfare. As a former prosecutor, she is not afraid to call prosecutors and law enforcement to task for not taking animal cruelty seriously, for failing to prosecute fully, or at all, in many instances. But Phillips also reminds us that improving animal welfare is a journey where everyone is welcome. If you want to get involved in helping animals, this book is a must read and an easy to follow "how to". -- Laura Allen Esq., Animal Law Coalition Defending the Defenseless: A Guide to Protecting and Advocating for Pets is a guide for those who want to speak up for these struggling creatures who may be facing abuse by their owners or others.... Defending the Defenseless is a good guide to getting involved for those who want to make a difference. * Midwest Book Review *

Do you love cats, dogs and other pets? Do you want to do more to help protect and advocate for these pets, but don't know where to start? Defending the Defenseless is for anyone who wants to join a growing crusade to bring animal protection to its rightful place in a civilized society, to protect animals from harm inflicted by humans, and allow them to live happily in an environment that appreciates their unique qualities. Regardless of career or lifestyle, anyone can become an advocate for pets in a growing movement to defend the defenseless. This book guides readers through the variety of ways they can help companion animals and offers practical tips to get involved, from donating money to volunteering at animal shelters, from opposing animal experimentation to raising children to protect animals. Defending the Defenseless is perfect for anyone who loves animals and is seeking guidance on how to get involved.