“She’s great! She’s written two sensational books. She’s the real deal.” — Tracie Hotchner, radio host of Dog Talk and Cat Chat.
Reviews for Defending the Defenseless
“Allie Phillips has crafted a thoughtful, refreshingly personal and comprehensive guide for anyone seeking to become more involved with helping the animals who share our world. Whether you are taking ‘baby steps’ in making humane life-style changes, getting involved with your local animal shelter, or taking the great leap into starting your own group to advocate for animals, this book provides hundreds of valuable tips to get you started, keep you focused and keep you sane while doing great things. this is a must read for all seeking to put caring into action.” — Dr. Randall Lockwood, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Forensic Sciences and Anti-cruelty Projects, ASPCA
“If you are new to animal advocacy, this book is much more than a how-to manual. It provides those yearning to make a difference for animals with both a roadmap and a call to action. It also reminds experienced advocates why they became involved in this gratifying yet emotionally demanding cause.” — Beatrice M. Friedlander, Animals and Society Institute
“In Defending the Defenseless, Allie Phillips provides a thorough and comprehensive overview and instruction of Trap-Neuter-Return, the program that benefits both cats and the community. We are a nation of animal lovers, and Phillips delivers valuable ideas for harnessing that love and putting it to work to protect animals.” — Becky Robinson, President, Alley Cat Allies
“In Defending the Defenseless, Allie Phillips guides us through a vast spectrum of practical ways that all people, with varying levels of experience and involvement, can help protect companion animals. Through numerous motivating and inspiring examples, she demonstrates the power of individual action and encourages fostering a more compassionate world. Anyone who cares about animals should read this book and share it widely!” –Meena Alagappan, Esq., Executive Director of HEART (Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers)
“As I read this book, I found myself a number of times saying, “Yes! That’s it exactly.” As an attorney, lobbyist, advocate and rescuer, Allie Phillips is unquestionably a pioneer of the animal welfare movement. She has laid out a very frank, personal account of what it can be like to maneuver around the intransigence of the management of some shelters, the ego and self-interest of some in the movement, and the entrenched economic and political interests that seemingly stonewall efforts to improve animal welfare. As a former prosecutor, she is not afraid to call prosecutors and law enforcement to task for not taking animal cruelty seriously, for failing to prosecute fully, or at all, in many instances. But Phillips also reminds that improving animal welfare is a journey where everyone is welcome. And a journey where a positive outlook is essential (the Law of Attraction). Her book is a step by step guide how anyone can bring their skills and perspective to the cause of helping animals, regardless of age, socio-economic background or political or religious beliefs: whether it is making a scratching post for cats at the local shelter, deciding to adopt rather than buy a pet, choosing a vegetarian or vegan diet, creating an animal blog, volunteering at a spay/neuter clinic or shelter, or starting an animal welfare non-profit! No effort is too small, and as Phillips reminds, after taking one step – or two, “you can do more!” If you want to get involved in helping animals, this book is a must read and an easy to follow “how to”. The book is also about the impact on animal welfare of how we talk about animals and about each other and the importance of bringing the community together in dealing with pet homelessness, abandonment, and cruelty. It is no surprise to me that we learn how to do this from the animals Phillips introduces – Smudgie’s resilience and also deep love, Leia’s fierce desire to live, and Fuzz and Blackie’s gratitude, trust and companionship. We just have to listen.” — Laura Allen, Esq., Executive Director, Animal Law Coalition
“This book is at once a how-to manual and an inspirational piece. Drawing on her own journey to becoming an animal advocate, Allie shares her encyclopedic knowledge of the animal protection field to give us practical advice on how to get involved–and how to keep moving forward in the face of obstacles. Whether your passion is puppy mills, feral cats, legislative change, or shelter reform, “Defending the Defenseless” will make us all better advocates on behalf of our animal friends. For anyone ready to take the next step to speak up and speak out for animals, your guidebook has arrived. — Maya Gupta, Ph.D., Executive Director, Ahimsa House, Inc.
“Phillips provides us with a comprehensive guide to becoming an advocate for animals. A lawyer and staunch animal advocate herself, the author has extensive experience volunteering in animal shelters and working to promote legislation that is in the best interests of animals. She gives readers numerous and specific options for getting involved and discusses the best way to get started. She also makes readers aware of some lesser-known animal welfare concerns, such as questionable practices that may be in place at their local animal shelters. Phillips does a good job of presenting the issues in an objective manner, giving voice to people on both sides of the argument, and she is careful to make a distinction between animal advocates and animal activists, since the term activist sometimes has a negative connotation. Verdict: This manual for animal advocacy is an excellent choice for readers looking for community service opportunities that will benefit animals.” —Deborah Emerson, Central New York Lib. Resources Council, Syracuse in Library Journal (September 29, 2011)
Defending the Defenseless listed as a “Title Worth Knowing” — From ForeWord Reviews
“Animals in Need: With every new crisis in the animal community, the desire to bring about change can be overwhelming. But where does one start? Allie Phillips – author, attorney, advocate for animals and someone with an almost unbelievable ability to implement change on the ground – has written a highly useful guide to getting involved. Phillips begins with the basics of volunteer work, then quickly moves into more informative territory, including explanations of the essential language (e.g., do you support animal rights or animal welfare?), opportunities in public education, how to help feral cats, animal transport, lobbying, emergency preparedness and models of best practices around the country, among other issues. Phillips writes with confidence and conviction, and offers a steady hand to the hesitant advocate.” – Elizabeth Kennedy, The Bark Magazine (January 2012)
Attorney and author, Allie Phillips’ new book, “Defending The Defenseless: A Guide To Protecting and Advocating For Pets,” is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in taking their love for animals to the next level of passion and care. From volunteering at your local animal shelter to lobbying and fighting for animal law reform, Phillips offers an in-depth and practical approach to taking action and getting results. — Erica Settino with All Things Healing (January 2012)
Recommended animal advocacy book in The Paw’s Corner (King Features Synd., Inc.). (January 2012)
Join the Crusade! We have a duty to speak out against the harm done to animals, author Allie Phillips argues, but many of us don’t know where to start. Phillips, a lawyer and veteran animal advocate, sets out to remedy that situation in Defending the Defenseless, a step-by-step guide to getting involved in protecting pets. In an age of information overload that she says discourages people from answering the call, Phillips tries to break through the clutter by focusing on companion animals and specific ways that people can help. The book touches on everything from attending your first conference to transporting shelter animals and helping feral cats — and the chapters conclude with bullet points detailing how you can do more. Whether you want to become a shelter volunteer or a lawyer specializing in animal issues, you’ll find useful advice in Defending the Defenseless. — Animal Sheltering Magazine (March-April 2012)
Reviews for How Shelter Pets are Brokered for Experimentation
“This book is a must read for anyone who knows nothing about pound seizure, as well as for the person well versed in this heinous practice and who wants to understand what she or he can do to make the madness stop. This book is for anyone who considers themselves a “Good Samaritan” in helping to get animals in-need to shelters, yet may be contributing to the delivery of a pet to an animal research facility. This book also painfully illuminates how owners who surrender their pets due to situations beyond their control, or have their precious pets stolen from their own yards, can never be sure that their pet won’t end up splayed on an operating table or housed in sterile lab conditions and subjected to repeated experimentation. The message is simple – this is a practice that could literally affect you and your pet tomorrow. For the local animal control or community animal shelter, this book is a message that engaging in pound seizure is a practice that, if discovered, can and will result in the withdrawal of precious donation dollars, loss of community support, and loss of compliance with stray dog laws and abuse/neglect laws. I highly recommend this as an important book both for educating the pet-owning public as well as for animal advocates seeking advice and a road map in their work to ban pound seizure in our country.”
—Debrah Schnackenberg, Vice President of Animal Programs, American Humane Association
“This is not an easy book to read, but it is a necessary one, and Allie Phillips is uniquely qualified to tell the story of “America’s Dirty Little Secret.” Allie takes her own wrenching experiences with pound seizure and applies her legal background to present the definitive volume, from the law, policy and legislation, to the science and personal stories-and more-about the animals and people caught up in this world.”
—Beatrice M. Friedlander, Animals and Society Institute, Inc.
“Allie Phillips shares an insider’s view of the generally unknown business of Class B animal dealers and pound seizure. As a lawyer, pet owner, shelter volunteer and currently VP of Public Policy for American Humane Association, Allie details the ways that some animals have been silently diverted from pounds and sold into a murky research world. The good news is it appears fewer are being sold now, but that pound seizure exists with no visibility violates a public trust. This book is a recommended read for everyone working in animal welfare. If we could change the hearts of people…”
—Hugh Tebault, The Latham Foundation
“Allie Phillips reveals a tragic failure to protect former pets from unnecessary-and at times, unlawful-use and abuse in science labs. She lays out the issues and the influences that have evolved over decades, and points to a solution that starts with each of us. She is an inspiring, model advocate, with courage and tenacity.”
—Sue Leary, American Anti-Vivisection Society, President
“Consider this your go-to source on the tragedy that is “pound seizure” and all of its ugly truths.”
—Stephan K. Otto, Esq., Animal Legal Defense Fund
“Allie Phillips has in How Shelter Pets are Brokered for Experimentation written by far the best researched report on pound seizure to appear between book covers since the late Animal Welfare Institute founder Christine Stevens contributed a long chapter about it to Animals & Their Legal Rights (1990).” – Merritt Clifton., Animal People Magazine
John Davidson’s Review on Fetch (a blog of the Denver Post) (February 7, 2011)
Latham Letter review (January 2011)
Parental Views Online Magazine (by Mandy Moore): “Allie Phillips, the author of How Shelter Pets are Brokered for Experimentation: Understanding Pound Seizure, uncovers the ugly truth that several shelters throughout the United States hide. As an animal advocate myself, I was eager to learn about “pound seizure”, which until now, I had never heard of.” Read more …—Mandy Moore, Harrisburg Cat Rescue Examiner
“As someone interested in pound seizure and class B dealers, this book is a must have. But for those folks who are interested in animal welfare and animal rights in a more general area, it is a must read as well! This book opens up the world of Class B dealers and pound seizure to the reader. Ms. Phillips calls pound seizure the communities “dirty little secret” and after reading this you will 100% understand why. I personally loved the chapter that shows what you can do to help stop pound seizure if it is occuring in your community. It is great to have that kind of direction and help in how to make a difference.” – Holly S. (Charlotte, MI)
“The practice of pound seizure, while in decline because of local citizen advocacy, is still in force in United State animal shelters. Dogs and cats who were once-loved pets are brokered through class B dealers to cosmetic, medical technique and tool, and drug testing often without the consent or knowledge of the owners who release them, and with inadequate oversight and documentation. Phillips provides thorough explanation of the history, law, and current status of this practice and provides myriad citations, case studies, and personal experiences. While clearly advocating for an end to this practice, the book is a well-balanced, sober look at the facts. The countless hours of research contained in this book is remarkable, and likely unparalleled for this subject. This book, while informative, is also well-written, and a fascinating, albeit disturbing read. Lack of information can no longer be an excuse for communities not to act in support of the vulnerable animals in their midst.” – Helen E. (Lansing, MI)
“I purchased this book and was impressed by the excellent research and documentation from the author. I learned things I didn’t know before about pound seizure. This book is invaluable to all “pet parents”–anyone who cares about the safety and welfare of their own pets as well as homeless pets. I highly recommend it.” – Judy D. (MI)
