Published at the end of 2022, the book is written by Lung Yuan Chih, who was born in Taipei, currently serves as a board member of the Taiwan Society of Animal and Human Studies, the Asian representative of the international non-governmental organization ACTAsia, and a consulting committee member of the Rooted Education Platform of the Care for Life Association. She embarked on a journey of animal protection in 2008, when she started studying abroad in Beijing.
The author vividly describes her experiences in Beijing, where she dedicated herself to animal welfare movements. At first, it seemed like an inspirational story, but it quickly turned into a disillusionment, marking the beginning of a journey.
This book reads like a novel, leaving a profound impact on me and captivating my attention as if I traveled along with the author to different countries. Whether it was in Beijing, where she discovered that their so-called “loyal friends” were involved in corrupt practices. Or in Europe, where she encountered the euthanization of young animals, humane slaughter, and factory farming. Even in Japan, which she used to believe to be “a place of cleanliness and etiquette” but turned out to be “the dirtiest place she had ever been.” She also found out about the large-scale and long-standing fur farming traditions in advanced Northern European countries….. Returning to Asia, she discovered that the Chinese government’s “rescue” of 118 giant pandas since the 1980s was essentially a form of capture. Finally, she observed many places and actions in current China and Taiwan that claim to be in the name of “protecting” and “releasing” animals, but are actually causing harm. It seems that this book, titled “In Search of Animal Utopia,” is ultimately ironic.
Despite the constant disillusionment throughout this journey, the author maintains immense passion and determination, leading us to explore and search for possibilities of change. She points out various areas of concern and potential goals that deserve attention and effort, encouraging more people to join in the search for and realization of an animal utopia.
The book pragmatically presents what constitutes the minimum protection for animals. Even though these animals will eventually die, the author believes that their lives can be meaningful if they experience some warmth and kindness while alive. These animals include common wild cats and dogs, economic animals such as chickens, pigs, and cows, bears suffering from live bile extraction, monkeys performing in zoos, parrots posing for photos with tourists, tigers, foxes, raccoons, and minks intensively farmed for their fur, and captive giant pandas deprived of freedom. By paying attention, we can discover that they exist in various forms throughout our lives.
I also appreciate how the book uses examples from films, literature, and photography to support its arguments. It is easier to have resonance and they can serve as recommendations for further reading, reminding us that animal welfare is an interdisciplinary issue that garners attention from diverse fields and prompts reflection in various themes and forms.
The author, being a philosopher and actively involved in frontline animal welfare investigations, does not adhere to the philosophical tradition of rational differentiation between humans and non-human animals, but rather denies the fact that animals suffer. She empathizes with animals by immersing herself in their situations, and through the literary style of her writing, authentically conveying sympathy and sorrow, which is what touched me the most about this book.
The book takes readers on a journey through the animal world in human society, experienced with eyes and a compassionate heart.
