VIRTUAL: An Evening for People Who Love Animals

The BFL, in collaboration with the Tewksbury Public Library, presents this virtual conversation with authors and animal lovers Melanie Kaplan and E.B. Bartels about their new books. 

In Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research, author Melanie Kaplan investigates the breeding and use of beagles for biomedical research, drug and product testing, and education. She takes readers on a journey, peeking behind laboratory doors and visiting with researchers, activists, ethicists, veterinarians, lawmakers, and innovators. Along the way, she finds thoughtful and caring humans on all sides of the debate, explores promising developments in nonanimal testing, and discovers puzzle pieces from her own beagle’s past.

Equal parts journalism and love story, Lab Dog offers a nuanced view on our relationship with a species that we both love and exploit, and a reason to hope for a better future for all. Melanie Kaplan is a longtime independent journalist whose travel and science writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and National Parks magazine. 

E.B. Bartels, author of Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter, has had a lot of pets—dogs, birds, fish, tortoises. As varied a bunch as they are, they’ve taught her one universal truth: to own a pet is to love a pet, and to own a pet is also—with rare exception—to lose that pet in time. But while we have codified traditions to mark the passing of our fellow humans, most cultures don’t have the same for pets. Bartels takes us from Massachusetts to Japan, from ancient Egypt to the modern era, in search of the good pet death. We meet veterinarians, archaeologists, ministers, and more, offering an idiosyncratic, inspiring array of rituals — from the traditional (scattering ashes, commissioning a portrait), to the grand (funereal processions, mausoleums), to the unexpected (taxidermy, cloning). The central lesson: there is no best practice when it comes to mourning your pet, except to care for them in death as you did in life, and to find the space to participate in their end as fully as you can.

E.B. Bartels, is a nonfiction writer, a teacher, an editor, and a former bookseller with an MFA from Columbia. Her essays and interviews have appeared in Salon, Slate, WBUR, Literary Hub, and Catapult, among others.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. 

RECORDING NOTE: This program will be recorded. All registrants will receive the recording via email within 48 hours of the program.