Animal lovers, rescuers and caregivers provide a firsthand glimpse into the lives of farmed animals in Ninety-Five: Meeting America’s Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs, released in June 2010 release by non-profit publisher No Voice Unheard. (Ninety- five is the average number of animals spared annually by one person’s vegan diet.)
Brimming with beautiful, full-color photographs, Ninety-Five [ISBN: 978-0-97283-875-7; 168 pages; $19.95] tells the captivating stories of farmed animals living in sanctuaries and homes across the country. These animals reveal themselves to be every bit as interesting, complicated, and charming as the dogs and cats many of us already know. From Justice, the steer who broke out of a truck on the way to the slaughterhouse and is now the self-appointed greeter at the sanctuary where he lives, to bold and irrepressible Lucas, a pig desperately infatuated with Petunia (the feeling isn’t mutual, but that doesn’t deter him), to Amelia, the turkey anxious to share a hug with her photographer, their stories are compelling, even amazing, and always moving.
“Most people have never had the chance to meet the animals we call ‘farm animals,’ and so are surprised to realize how personality-filled and emotionally complex they are,” says Diane Leigh, No Voice Unheard Editor. “When they are allowed to live in peace and comfort and be who they are, farmed animals form deep relationships, have clear preferences about all aspects of their lives and have feelings and memories. The stories in Ninety-Five convey this, simply and obviously.”
In early praise, John Robbins, author of The New Good Life and Diet for a New America, calls Ninety-Five “a rare and life-changing book. It evokes a sense of wonder, joy and awe, and a recognition of how interwoven we are with all of life.” Rory Freedman, #1 NY Times best selling author of Skinny Bitch, calls the book “"Profoundly evocative and entirely to the point,” and says it will “leave readers forever changed."
Whether it is legislation regulating farming practices, initiatives overwhelmingly passed by voters, undercover video footage from farms and slaughterhouses revealing shocking cruelty, or discoveries of the environmental impacts of raising animals for food, current headlines are filled with stories about modern agricultural practices. More than ever before, Americans want to know where their food comes from and how the animals who become food a treated. Ninety-Five goes beyond these questions, showing us who these animals are.
