A Life for Animals
Christine Townend
Sydney University Press
ISBN: 9781743325520

A Life for Animals is the story of a life devoted to a radical idea: that animals should be treated with dignity and respect.

Christine Townend founded Animal Liberation Australia in 1976 after reading Peter Singer’s book of the same name. Despite a largely indifferent and sometimes hostile public, she campaigned relentlessly to raise awareness of animal welfare and to build the movement’s momentum in Australia.

In 1990, weary of Australian politics, she accepted an invitation to visit a small, run-down animal shelter in Rajasthan. There she encountered shocking human and animal suffering – but also the extraordinary power of human and animal interaction. As she edged her way into the life of the shelter, she found herself unexpectedly attached: to the animals, to her colleagues, and to India.

A Life for Animals is Townend’s account of this journey. She records the successes and challenges of animal welfare work, the critical moments that have shaped her philosophy, and the profound personal and political consequences of sharing a life with animals.

To purchase a copy of A Life for Animals please visit the SUP site: http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/sup/9781743325339.

Recent Submissions

  • A Life for Animals (front matter) 

    Townend, Christine
    Published 2017-01-01
    I wondered what we were doing here on this narrow bitumen highway, with bare stretches of field and scattered huts, in the middle of Uttar Pradesh, in 1993, without a proper road map, with no contact with anyone in the ...
    Open Access
    Book chapter