Fifteen Legs: When all that stands between death and freedom is a ride Compelling Read………. Highly Recommended ………….. 5 Stars

The Review

Writer Silva discusses our pet overpopulation problem, which can be solved if citizens will spay and neuter. She also talks about the Puppy Mill problem in our country and the horrors caused by allowing female dogs to produce litter after litter which by and large are not socialized, sold to pet stores and do not make good pets in the long run and often end up in shelters or are dumped some where. Silva outlines in detail what may be expected if animals are taken to ‘Shelters.’ Kill shelters keep animals a short time and if they are not adopted they join the 3 – 4 million cats and dogs that are euthanized each year. The chapters describing transportation of critters from point A to point B across the nation are filled with good feelings and happy outcomes. Silva discusses various large and small animals which might be considered for hauling across the US from were they are to the home where they will be loved, cared for and stay forever. Dogs and cats come to mind immediately of course, but other animals are carried as well. Rabbits, wolves, cougar, all have been transported. Many animals need transportation to homes or fostering following Katrina. Foster parents for critters is pretty much as foster parents for human children. Writer Silva describes how foster parents provide a safe haven for animals who may be coming from abusive, puppy mills or other cruel situations. Puppy mills dogs spend their lives in cages where their sole function is to produce puppies to be sold. Wire bottom cages cut and splay the feet. Feces and urine are allowed to drop through the wire. If the dog is in the top tier then the feces and urine fall below them, if the dog is in any other tier then they receive dropping urine and feces, are not bathed and live in misery and filth. The ammonia build up causes blindness on top of every thing else. This is one of the books for review I will be keeping. Fifteen Legs is 176 pages of the story of this nation, its treatment of animals, the homeless creatures too many of us regard without care and the few among us who are determined to save at least some. I do not transport animals, however, we do house ‘throwaways’ who have been born, cuddled from the appearance of them and their behavior and then discarded. At any one time the dog pen may hold several critters or as today only two. … the others have grown old and are now dead. Their life with us was good. But, reading Fifteen Legs and my own experience tells me there are so many more who are not so fortunate. Forever Homes, exactly what the words say they mean, and Volunteers are discussed by Silva in separate chapters. Critter rescue hopes to end with the animal being taken to a home where he/she will stay for ever. Volunteers are the ones along the way who care for, rescue, house and transport little critters who likely would end up in a euthanization program somewhere if they managed to not be run over on the road, starved in the woods or other wise left on their own. The chapter NEVER AGAIN tells of rescue, or attempts for rescue of Katrina pets who were left behind. Dogs were still be rescued from bathrooms, tied to posts, on rooftops and out of water in flooded houses a month after their family had been forced to leave them behind. People who had been forced, sometimes at gunpoint to leave behind beloved pets are today dealing with the guilt they have been forced to bear. Dead dogs have been found drowned, under covers in the bed they shared with owners, or from starvation or dehydration in the house they shared with their family. Rescuers continued to rescue animals nine weeks following Katrina. Many of the volunteers became transporters carrying animals to new homes, or old owners when they could be found. Six months after Katrina rescuers continued to locate and reunite animals and owners. Following the debacle that was Katrina after the storm legislation is in the works that will prevent wholesale abandonment of household pets in the face of disaster. On the pages of Fifteen Legs: When all that stands between death and freedom is a ride Writer Silva has crafted an outstanding work that should be required reading for everyone who owns a pet, thinks about owning a pet or lives on planet earth. Ghandi is said to have believed, "The measure of a nation is how it treats its animals.” I fear we do not measure very well. Fifteen Legs is sure to open the eyes of some to the misery and horror animals in our nation suffer far too often. A must have for the target audience of those who revere life and the role animals play in our lives. Happy to recommend.

================================= Reviewed by Molly’s Reviews molly martin =============================

Fifteen Legs: When all that stands between death and freedom is a ride Bonnie Silva Genre: non fiction Hardcover: 184 pages Publisher: Riverbank Press Language: English ISBN-10: 0972899111 ISBN-13: 978-0972899116 Amazon $22.95