Unnatural Companions

Rethinking Our Love of Pets in an Age of Wildlife Extinction

By: Peter Christie

Narrated by: Chris Sorensen

Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

We love our pets. Dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, and other species have become an essential part of more families than ever before - in North America today, pets outnumber people. Pet owners are drawn to their animal companions through an innate desire to connect with other species. But there is a dark side to our domestic connection with animal life: the pet industry is contributing to a global conservation crisis for wildlife - often without the knowledge of pet owners.

In Unnatural Companions, journalist Peter Christie issues a call to action for pet owners. If we hope to reverse the alarming trend of wildlife decline, pet owners must acknowledge the pets-versus-conservation dilemma and concede that our well-fed and sheltered cats too often prey on small backyard wildlife and seemingly harmless reptiles released into the wild might be the next destructive invasive species. We want our pets to eat nutritionally healthy food, but how does the designer food we feed them impact the environment?

Christie's book is a cautionary tale to responsible pet owners about why we must change the ways we love and care for our pets. It concludes with the positive message that the small changes we make at home can foster better practices within the pet industry that will ultimately benefit our pets' wild brethren.

©2020 Peter Christie (P)2020 Tantor

Raising awareness for pet owners and pet lovers.

I appreciate all animals, especially wild ones. Wild animals have lost habitat, lost much of their food sources, and for some, their freedom as they are trapped and caged. Human activity has affected wildlife in every part of the planet.

This excellent book reveals the impact that we and our pets have on the natural world. This is more complex than I had realized and it is well explained. This book does not malign pet owners, it does explain the facts. Learning these facts can lead to better choices regarding pets so that we can reduce their impact on the environment and wild animals in this age of extinction.

I found that the narration was improved by speeding it up a bit.

I highly recommend this book.

Important info detracted by haughty perspective

Attempting to mentally ignore the narrator's nasal and grating tone -and- the author's preachy and arrogant presentation style detracted significantly from the NUMEROUS, CRITICAL DATA NUGGETS that we all should have a greater awareness of so we can make informed choices regarding pets, (other) invasive species, endangered biodiversity, and how we each impact it. Perhaps the book would be better in this case.