The title of the book refers to the passage from Genesis that granted “dominion” of other creatures to mankind. Scully goes on to expose how this has been misinterpreted and subverted to support the torture of animals in the name of science, agriculture and sport. He takes on his own “people,” conservatives and Christians, as well as pseudo-scientists, who have become sup-porters or apologists of the agriculture industry. For Scully dominion does not equate to a “license over” but rather a “charge” for a wise and humane steward-ship. His argument is wholly a moral one. It is simply immoral to be cruel to any animal, be it a family dog or a veal calf. He does not try to make any claim for their legal rights, leaving those complicated and legalistic arguments to Peter Singer or Steven Wise, and other animal rights scholars. Scully's position can be summarized thus: “Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind's capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don't; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us.”

Scully presents his case while reporting on disturbing and perverted worlds such as that of the Safari Club International, whose trophy-hunting members declare that slaughter of wild species is their “path to the sacred.” Animals don't even stand a fair chance these days what with the “the high- powered guns and bows . hunting guides, trackers, satellite photography services, infrared lights .” that can be observed at that club's annual conference and “trade show.” He reports on the International Whaling Commission meetings where Norway and Japan argue for a relaxation of the hunting quota and for their innate cultural right to hunt for and consume whale meat. And on factory mega-sized-farms in this country where animal scientists are busy trying to genetically engineer pigs to eliminate “porcine stress syndrome,” or PSS. Stress in pigs, due to overcrowded, sunless livestock warehousing, is leading to poorer meat quality, hence dipping profit margins. Creating “fear-free” pigs and expunging the pigs' genetic makeup-“redesigning the animal to fit the farm”- is one of the worst crimes that has been perpetrated on one species by another, according to Scully.

Scully also does an admirable job in deconstructing the polemics of behavioral theorists like Stephen Budiansky and Professor John S. Kennedy. A student of evolutionary biology Budiansky believes that animals act by a kind of “unthinking intelligence” arising from their genetic coding or “hardwiring.” Animals, he further argues, lack language, therefore they lack the ability to form concepts, therefore lack consciousness, therefore they cannot suffer. He also promotes the notion that dogs, and other animals, including primates, only mimic human emotion and intelligence. Scully contends that Budiansky, and other theorists, hold a position of dominion that is “without that moral sensibility.” These theorists are quick to discount anything that can't be measured or replicated in their labs. But to anyone who has shared a life with animals, it is readily evident that such theories are poppycock. For, as Scully reminds us, “None of these abstract theories would warrant such space and attention if they stayed where they belonged . the problem lies in their practical application . which give license to what people actually do to animals.” Hunters and animal husbandry experts can be counted as fans of Budiansky's views.

Although there is much material in Dominion that is unsettling and painful to read, it offers a vital reminder of just how important it is that the public and policy-makers are made aware of these cruelties. Perhaps Scully won't convince many readers to become vegetarians, but even if everyone stops eating meat once or twice a week, or finds an alternative dog treat to smoked pig's ears-all this can help. To Scully, “The only way of winding down the factory farms is by withdrawing our weight, each person, one act of conscience after another, from the momentum of consumer demand. . In the end how we treat animals is not only a question of their fates, but ours as well.”