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List of contents
ContentsForeword
Introduction
Chapter One
Pet Theories1 Listening to Prozac: "Bow-Wow! I
Love the Mailman!" / Carrie Dolan
2 Surgery on an Odd Scale / Dan Morse
3 A Horse Is a Horse, Unless of Course.../ Tony Horwitz
4 Much Chow, No Hounds / Ken Wells
5 Polly Wants a Scholarship to Harvard / David Stipp
6 Two-Stepping with Four Legs / Lisa Gubernick
7 Big Bird Is an Emmy Shoe-In / James Bandler
8 Barking Mad for Joyce / Susan G. Hauser
9 Little Beauties / James M. Perry
10 Fido Forever / Jeffrey Krasner
Chapter Two
Political Animals11 Kill Kitty? / James P. Sterba
12 Anglers Away! / Charles F. McCoy
13 Bite the Lawyers / Quentin Hardy
14 Bambi Uncensored / James P. Sterba
15 Horns of a Dilemma / Bryan Gruley
16 The Military-Chimpanzee Complex / Geraldine Brooks
17 High on the Hedgehog / Glynn Mapes
18 I've Got You, Babe / Vanessa Fuhrmans
19 A Man Among the Predators / James P. Sterba
Chapter Three
Odd Ducks20 Splat Man / Barry Newman
21 Next, They'll Want a Stadium / Gautam Naik
22 Pinky, Phone Home / June Kronholz
23 The Toad People / Glynn Mapes
24 Elvis Has Left the Forest / Quentin Hardy
25 Bugged in Rhode Island / Barbara Carton
26 The Worm Economy / James P. Sterba
27 Not Your Mother's Nutritionist / Erik Larson
28 The Greening of Frog Dreams / James P. Sterba
Chapter Four
Pastoral Pursuits29 Shear Excitement / Eric Morgenthaler
30 Bucks, Sex and.../ James P. Sterba
31 Yoking It Up in Maine / Barry Newman
32 Another Thing to Grouse About / Tony Horwitz
33 At Least They're Not Elephants / Carrie Dolan
34 The Polish Pickle Over Buffalo / Barry Newman
35 New Zealand's Woolly Problem / Geraldine Brooks
Chapter Five
Fish Stories36 An Operative Theory of Caviar / Daniel Pearl
37 The Devil Ray as Angel Food? / Gay Sands Miller
38 A Wail of a Tale / Robert L. Rose
39 A Biting Reappraisal of Sharks / James P. Sterba
40 If Guppies Rise Up, You'll Know Why / Michael J. McCarthy
41 Getting With the Drill / Ellen Byron
42 Bugs, Bass and Loons in Moonlight / Ned Crabb
Chapter Six
Wild Things43 Paddling with "Psycho Sam" / Ken Wells
44 We'd Guess Punxsutawney Phil Is Next / Timothy Aeppel
45 Not Only That: Rudolph Sells Crack! / Robert Berner
46 Feral TV / Mark Robichaux
47 Where's Dumbo? / Roger Thurow
48 The Monkey Bomb / Barry Newman
49 This Zoo's a Killer / Craig S. Smith
50 Gentle Ben's Big Bad Brother / Ken Slocum
51 Barking Up the Right Tree / Jim Hyatt
Chapter Seven
Buzz52 After the Oscars, Please Call Orkin / Carrie Dolan
53 A Grubby Little Secret / Dawn Blalock
54 The Dean of Doodlebugs / Eric Morgenthaler
55 With Crickets, I'd Try a Nice Pinot Grigio / Amal Kumar Naj
56 The Roach Has No Friends.../ Erik Larson
57 ...Save One / Bob Ortega
Epilogue: Only in America
Acknowledgments
Index to Authors
About the author
Edited by Ken Wells; Foreword by Bruce McCall
Summary
For more than sixty years, The Wall Street Journal has prided itself not just on its serious journalism, but also on the whimsical and arcane stories that amuse and delight its readers. In that regard, animal stories have proven to be the most beloved of all. Now, veteran Journal reporter and Page One editor Ken Wells gathers the finest, funniest, and most fascinating of these animal tales in one exceptional book.
Here are lighthearted, witty stories of breakthroughs in goldfish surgery, the untiring efforts of British animal lovers who guide lovesick toads across dangerous motorways, and the quest to tame doggy anxieties by prescribing the human pacifier Prozac. Other pieces reflect on mankind's impact on the animal kingdom: a close-up look at the nascent fish-rights movement, the retirement of U.S. Air Force chimpanzees that once soared through space, and ongoing scientific efforts to defeat that most hardy enemy -- the cockroach.
Each of these fifty-odd stories -- from the outlandish to the poignant -- exemplifies the superb feature writing that makes The Wall Street Journal one of America's best-written newspapers. This charming and utterly captivating collection will be a joy not only to animal lovers, but to all those who appreciate artful storytelling by writers who are obviously having a wonderful time spinning the tales.
