One of the Financial Times’ Best Summer Books of 2022
‘A compelling account of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of life as a vet – and a lesson to us all on how we should treat the animals with which we share our lives.’ – Stephen Moss, naturalist and author of The Robin: A biography
‘If you love animals, read this book’ – Jay Griffiths, author of Wild: An elemental journey
Our lives are intrinsically linked to those of animals – whether that’s the animals we farm for food, those living in the wild, those we use for sport or the ones we choose to keep as pets. We all have a responsibility to consider our impact, and even small changes in our own lives could significantly improve the quality of theirs.
Dr Sean Wensley is an award-winning vet and lifelong naturalist, advocating animal wellbeing around the world. Fusing keen scientific insight with tender meditations on the natural world, Through a Vet’s Eyes reveals the injustices which animals experience every day and raises an important question: how can we choose a better life for animals?
Compelling and compassionate, Through a Vet’s Eyes helps us to see things from the animals’ perspectives, and illuminates the ways we can better care for our fellow creatures.
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Reviews
A compelling account of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of life as a vet - and a lesson to us all on how we should treat the animals with which we share our lives.
Framed around a compelling and very personal journey, this book is packed with decades of insight. Each chapter dances naturally between nature-writing and first-person tales of animals in our care. I loved the storytelling prose, the binocular-clad explorations of a fellow naturalist and the quirky pairings of animals wild and domesticated. All delivered in a tone that is measured yet passionate. And what I really liked is that it's told by a vet, offering the reader fresh perspectives through the eyes of animals.
Beguiling and devastating, this book explores how to play with a fox and recognise kinship with animals, even as it calmly and kindly reveals the truth of how animals are treated before they are made into food. If you love animals, read this book.
Over the years as a vet, I have experienced many of the same situations, challenges and feelings that Sean reflects on in this incredible book. He helps us see things from the animals' perspectives, which is one of the key skills that every vet has to learn. We must, as individuals and as societies, be responsible for the part we each play in the lives of animals, whether they be used for food, sport, as our pets or for our enjoyment in nature. I strongly encourage you to read this book - I believe it helps us to understand the interwoven challenges we face as we navigate an uncertain future and equips us with the tools necessary to make a difference. I'm already telling everyone I know to read it!
Fascinating, engaging, urgent and important. Wensley is the ideal guide to the mysteries of the animal mind. If this doesn't revolutionize your view of the food on your plate and the whine of your dog, nothing will.
Through a Vet's Eyes provides a fascinating insight into the lives of different animals: those that live in the wild, are farmed for human consumption and the ones we choose to live with in our homes as domestic pets. The welfare and experiences of the animals who share this planet with humans in their different ways is told humanely with genuine compassion that drives home the responsibility we all share to think about the impact that we have in the way we live our lives.
Through a Vet's Eyes is a sensitive and intimate chronicle charting one man's journey through the wonders of the animal and natural world. By blending keen observation and scientific enquiry with an enduring passion for nature, Dr Sean Wensley provides a hugely insightful commentary into our relationship with animals and the wider living environments we co-habit. An excellent read for anyone with an interest in the collective responsibility we all have to ensure the welfare of the animal world and the sustainability and wellbeing of our ecosystems.
In this book, Sean Wensley explores some of the ways our human lives are intrinsically linked to those of animals and how a better understanding of these relationships can benefit both. I commend it to anyone who would like to know more about this fascinating subject.
[Through a Vet's Eyes] is comprehensive yet concise, sensitive without being sentimental and idealistic without being overly ideological. I loved it.
An enlightening guide to how scientists get inside the minds of other animals
A landmark book.
A very good read...I learned a lot. This book should make all of us think more deeply about those animals that are kept for our benefit.
This inspiring, compassionate memoir offers informed and practical insights into how to reduce our animal welfare footprint...A thoroughly enlightening read.