Carnival

“From Groundhog Day and the Jumping Frog Jubilee to the ostrich races in Nevada and the Maine Lobster Festival, Forget the Camel offers a funny, poignant, and compelling tour of the roles of animal festivals in the American cultural landscape. Elizabeth MeLampy uses these often wacky events to pose important questions—why do we adore some species and detest others, what is the connection between humor and cruelty, and what makes humans special? This is the rare book that can make you laugh, cry, and change the way you think.” —Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals

“A fascinating and thought-provoking tour of animal-centered festivals around the United States. MeLampy thinks deeply and carefully about the animals she sees, revealing the gulf between our perceptions and the lived experiences of the creature at the center of our festivities. The result is a call for a different world, one where humans might see animals less as symbols, and more as organisms in their own right.” —Bethany Brookshire, author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains

“Elizabeth MeLampy’s Forget the Camel is a riveting, much-needed account of animal festivals from the animals’ point of view and what such festivals say about us and our relationships with nonhuman beings. Using the latest science, a host of stories, and some down home commonsense, she makes it amply clear that what unites communities, lifts spirits, and offers food, drink, and entertainment is anything but festive for the animals themselves. I can only hope that McLampy’s detailed and compelling exposé of what goes on these human-centered events will force people to reassess what the animals feel and put an end to them once and for all. I learned a lot from reading this eye-opening book and I’m sure others also will.” —Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., author of The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy―and Why They Matter

“In the spirit of the anthropologist Margaret Mead, Elizabeth MeLampy gets up close and personal with her subject. In the process she exposes human behavior that I found to be at times disturbing, at others incomprehensible, and constantly revealing.” —Jonathan Balcombe, author of What a Fish Knows

Elizabeth MeLampy is a lawyer whose work focuses on animal rights and protection. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, she was named an Emerging Scholar Fellow by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy in 2020 and received an award for her work with Harvard Law’s Animal Law & Policy Program in 2021. She clerked for judges in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Federal District Court in Arizona and litigated with the Natural Resources Defense Council. She currently lives in Boston, MA.