Andrew Linzey is Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford. He is widely regarded as the pre-eminent theologian on the status of animals. In the first chapter of this book, Linzey makes a convincing case for why animal suffering matters morally. He knocks down the six arguments used to justify exploitation of animals: they are naturally slaves, non-rational beings, linguistically deficient, not moral agents, soulless beings, and devoid of the divine image. Linzey believes animals, like young children, should be accorded a special moral status. In other words, all of these two-legged, four-legged, eight-legged, winged, and finned being have their own intrinsic value.

Hunting with dogs is a big sport in Great Britain, and the author gives his reactions to a government assessment of this phenomenon. Linzey then puts forward his view: "Hunting has become a totemic issue because causing suffering for pleasure is one of the least morally justifiable activities. It is difficult to see how fundamental progress is possible while individuals are allowed to hunt creatures to a cruel death for comparatively trivial reasons."

Fur farming, although found to be objectionable by some countries, flourishes around the world with around 50 million mink and 7 million foxes bred each year. Linzey explores the ethical grounds for the abolition of this egregious business. In the final essay, the author examines killing seals, a gigantic international business, taking 900,000 seals a year. Linzey lays out reasons why the Canadian government should prohibit the commercial seal hunt.