Animal Happiness

Whitney Scott

Animal trainer, poet, and philosopher Hearne has given us a treasure with these vignettes about dogs, horses, frogs, lions, orangutans, tortoises, and the human condition. She also tucks in details on the nature of language and on Greek philosophers, all bespeaking a poet's eye for telling minutiae. Consider Sarah, the sensitive scorpion, who hated holidays; used to being held, petted, and praised by her owner, herpetologist Warren Estes, she found it hard to endure the disgust with which visiting relatives viewed her and needed, according to Estes, to be held more. In a piece about desert tortoises, Hearne asks the obvious: "Why would anyone bother keeping tortoises? Why bother keeping any animal?" She answers, "When they die, you weep. And the next one won't be the same." Yet as with all fine writing on animals, this book avoids sentimentality, instead concentrating on the sentiments inspired by animals. We come away from Hearne's effort with newly gained insights into our fellow species and, of course, ourselves.