Unnatural companions : rethinking our love of pets in an age of wildlife extinction
(Book)

"We love our pets, and we spend a lot of money on them. Ironically, our innate human desire to connect with animals has inadvertently spawned a multibillion-dollar pet industry that's contributing to a global conservation crisis for wildlife. It's threatening the very diversity of life that we're evolutionarily programmed to cherish. In Unnatural Companions, Christie confronts this rarely talked about pets-versus-conservation dilemma that must be acknowledged if we hope to reverse the alarming trend of wildlife decline. Christie delves into the well-known problem of "subsidized predators"-household pets who directly prey on and kill wildlife. But he also explores lesser-known problems including depletion of wildlife populations for the pet trade; the release of pets into the wild that become ecologically destructive invasive species; the pet food industry's depletion of fish; and transmission of new diseases to wild animals by unsupervised pets that roam ferally. Christie ultimately argues that this same love of pets can be turned to good, to catalyze awareness and inspire us to champion life in all its forms, wild as well as domestic. This book is a call to action for responsible pet owners, concluding with the positive message that small changes in how we approach pet ownership can foster a groundswell of positive change for our pets' wild brethren"--,Provided by publisher.