A passion for animals

Susan Orlean loves animals, as you may have gathered if you are lucky enough to have read her book Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. The celebrated nonfiction author brings her passion for animals front and center in her latest book, On Animals (2021).

The book consists of previously published magazine articles, mostly from The New Yorker, where she is a regular contributor. Some of these go back as far as the 1990s. Some are very personal, as when she writes about the many animals on her family's small farm in rural New York. Others are more objective, as when she writes about a show dog named Biff. All are witty and fascinating.

She writes about a New Jersey woman with so many tigers she has lost count. When a loose tiger walks through a residential area and eventually has to be shot, she doesn't know if it was one of hers or not. Orlean says there may be seven times as many pet tigers in the United States as there are registered Irish setters.

Another essay discusses homing pigeons. Another is about the animals used in movies and television programs. (Even worms and insects that appear on film cannot be harmed in any way.) Separate articles deal with mules and donkeys. She writes about a highly infectious disease that threatens all rabbits, both wild and domestic. There's even a piece on taxidermy. Another is about a lion whisperer.

Orlean's prose draws the reader in quickly and leaves one both entertained and educated. You need not share her passion for animals to love her book.