An Odyssey with Animals

Adrian R Morrison

ISBN 10: 0195374444 / ISBN 13: 9780195374445

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, US, 2009

About this Item

A bitter controversy rages in Western society today: Is it unreasonably cruel to conduct biomedical research on animals? On one side lies a devoted (and, at times, aggressive and even violent) group of activists who believe animals are not human property, subject to our influence and interference. On the other are the researchers whose work developing life-saving medical treatments has hinged on the use of laboratory animals--and the patients who benefit from those treatments. As a veterinarian and sleep researcher, Adrian Morrison understands both sides of the issue, as well as the passions it arouses. Animal use in biomedical research, he argues, is a necessary part of medical advancements that improve human health and quality of life. This is not a position Morrison takes lightly, for he has been the victim of repeated acts of intimidation by animal-rights extremists, who vandalized his office and threatened his family. Refusing to be silenced, Morrison has written extensively on the humane but necessary use of laboratory animals, and was for three years director of the NIMH Program for Animal Research Issues. In this book, he offers the culmination of decades of reflection, scholarly research into the animal rights issue, and first-hand work with animals. The result is a thought-provoking, intelligent, and fair-minded discussion of an emotionally charged subject.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780195374445

Bibliographic Details

• Title: An Odyssey with Animals
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, US
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195374444
• ISBN 13: 9780195374445
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 544 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The relationship between animals and humans is more complex today than ever before. In addition to the animals that have served as household pets, and the farm animals that have provided labor and food, countless monkeys, rabbits, rats, and cats have enabled modern scientists to treat and cure humanity's most devastating illnesses. This aspect of animal-human interaction has engendered a bitter enmity between animal rights activists and the biomedical researchers whose work depends on the use (and oftentimes the killing) of laboratory animals.

In An Odyssey with Animals, veterinarian and sleep researcher Adrian Morrison argues that humane animal use in biomedical research is an indispensable tool of medical science, and that efforts to halt such use constitute a grave threat to human health and wellbeing. The target of repeated acts of intimidation by anonymous animal rights activists because of his own research, Morrison is himself an animal advocate, and this volume is the culmination of his years spent negotiating the treacherous divide between a legitimate concern for animals and the importance of biomedical research. Drawing on the disciplines of philosophy, history, biology, and animal behavior, Morrison crafts a multi-faceted argument in favor of using animals humanely in research, the center of which is his staunch belief that human interests must be the primary concern of science and society. Along the way, Morrison delves into other human uses of animals in domains such as agriculture, hunting, and education, examining each use along with its philosophical, moral, and ecological implications. The result is a thought-provoking, intelligent and fair-minded discussion of a charged subject-- of the past and present of animals' relationships with humans, and how and why we should be able to use them as we do.

About the Author

Adrian R. Morrison, D.V.M., Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine. He is an internationally known expert on REM sleep and a defender of the humane use of animals in biomedical research.