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Vegan Fiction: Victims of Science: Animal

The horrors of animal testing are tough to confront. Fiction provides a buffer that makes these stories a little more approachable though no less heart-breaking and often grounded in fact. They provide an avenue for empathy. This is the second in this week's postings of vegan fiction.

  • The Plague Dogs, Richard Adams (1977) — No one gives animals a voice like Adams. From it's memorable opening scene, this is the most heart-breaking and difficult to read story on my vegan fiction list. Two dogs, Rowf (who would have been a most loyal eager to please Labrador if he'd ever had a proper master) and Snitter (a fox terrier who acts a lot like Fiver, the mad rabbit in Watership Down) escape from an animal research station in North West England.

    Non-fiction inspiration: In the preface, Adams credits Victims of Science by Richard Ryder and Animal Liberation by Peter Singer as influences.

    Quotes: "Men can do worse things than hurt you or starve you—they can change the world."

    "Do you think great Pan is going to sit idly by while Dr. Boycott stabs, maims, and drowns his creatures in the name of science, progress and civilization?"

    Read with: Adams' Watership Down and William Golding's Pincher Martin

    Inspired? Help here: Beagle Freedom Project
  • We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (2013) —  This exquisite book features a member of the Animal Liberation Front as a sympathetic character. See my review.

    Quotes: "Let's just say that my father was kind to animals unless it was in the interest of science to be otherwise. He would never have run over a cat if there was nothing to be learned by doing so."

    "I didn't want a world in which I had to choose between blind human babies and tortured monkey ones. To be frank, that's the sort of choice I expect science to protect me from, not give me."

    Read it with: the short story "Rachel in Love" by Pat Murphy

    Inspired? Help here:     Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW

  • We3, author Grant Morrison, artist Frank Quitely (2004) — This graphic novel features a weaponize dog, cat, and rabbit who have escaped from an government facility. Pairs well with The Plaque Dogs.

    Further reading: The Animal Man Omnibus: author Grant Morrison, artist Chas Truog (2013). Comes out Aug. 6.

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