Animal protection warrior Lung Yuan-Chih has traveled to countless locations around the world as an advocate for animal rights and to show her concern for the relationship between humans and animals. Lung’s biting, insightful commentary on her lived experiences leaves much for the reader, and all humankind, to consider.

Zoos and circuses are both cute and deadly. In Searching for Animal Utopia, author Lung Yuan-Chih investigates the current state of and challenges to the global animal protection movement while giving her readers insights into the complexities and various facets of this movement via her lived experiences in Taiwan, China, Japan, and Scandinavia.

Particular attention is given to how regional and cultural mores shape how “animal protection” is perceived and practiced in different countries. Beyond graphic depictions of the cruel realities of animal-exploitative business such as China’s live bear-bile abattoirs and traveling circuses and Europe’s fur farms, Lung paints an in-depth, critical portrait of the effort invested by many animal rights advocates. Her treatment of this issue doesn’t shy away even from spotlighting the heavy psychological burdens and exhaustion regularly borne by frontline volunteers. Searching for Animal Utopia further delves into the role of religious groups in the movement, detailing the problems of captive animal releases and sanctuary farms, allowing readers to better appreciate both the complexities and the critical importance of the animal protection movement.

Much more than a litany of the works of animal protection activists, this book is a heartfelt call to action. Lung hopes her retelling of what she has seen and heard firsthand inspires readers to launch their own journeys into exploring and better understanding the relationship between humans and animals as well as to actively work toward equitable coexistence.