Saving Molly
A Research Veterinarian's Choices
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
How rescuing a puppy led a veterinarian to rethink the ethics of his work: "Will surely interest everyone who cares about animal welfare and animal rights" (Library Journal).
The puppy was on the verge of death when James Mahoney found her. Molly was not the first dying animal the research veterinarian had seen—but her struggle touched his heart, and sent him barreling over rough Jamaican mountains in a borrowed car during his vacation, searching for the equipment he'd need to save her.
Saving Molly is not only the story of a rescued dog, but also of a rescued man. As he cares for the runt of the litter and raises her, he asks himself questions: How can he spend his days with chimpanzees locked behind bars and still say that he loves them? What do we owe them for their participation in medical research? Why is saving a single puppy important? In this "well-written, engaging book," James Mahoney reflects on his early attraction to veterinary medicine, when he dreamed of being a horse doctor in Ireland; the debates both within his field and within his own mind about what's right and wrong when it comes to laboratory work; and what he's learned from fifty years of living with animals—and with the two-legged primates who study them (Library Journal).
Written by the man Jane Goodall called "one of the most gentle and compassionate people I know," Saving Molly is an important addition to the debate on animal research and a heartfelt meditation on one man's life. It includes an introduction by Roger A. Caras, president of the ASPCA.
"He is concerned about the pain and the suffering of the animals. That's what makes Jim Mahoney different." —Alex Pacheco, founder of PETA
"A different twist on the veterinary memoirs genre popularized by James Herriot, Mahoney's examination of his motives as a research veterinarian makes for engrossing reading." —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"I have never seen myself as a spokesman for animal research," Mahoney writes in the prologue to this searching life snapshot. "My mission, as I see it, is to encourage a gentler, more compassionate approach towards animals in the laboratory." Mahoney is a London-born research veterinarian who works with primates to find cures for human diseases like AIDS. His Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) in New York tries to treat the animals in its care as humanely as possible--a practice, Mahoney allows, that sets it apart from many labs. Mahoney reflects on the trials and tribulations of lab life during the period he and his wife cared for Molly, "a dog of modest origins" they came across on vacation in Jamaica and adopted. Molly was extremely ill, practically blind in one eye, anemic and at one point seemed possibly brain damaged. Mahoney and his wife nurtured the pup as one would a sick infant, around the clock, often taking her to bed. In telling the story of Molly's miraculous recovery, Mahoney draws parallels between her plight and that of lab animals, both those in his care (to whom he becomes heartbreakingly attached) and elsewhere. His candid reflections reveal, as noted by ASPCA president Caras, his courage and compassion in the face of thorny ethical conflict: namely, whether the lives of animals should be sacrificed, in quality or in quantity, in order to better our own. FYI: National Geographic Discovery has produced a documentary on LEMSIP, which shut down soon after this book was completed, that airs on the TBS network August 30.
