Book excerpt: This book (Noble Cow) deals with the ability of animals to feel, perceive, or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. In Taiwan, a cow separated from its owner goes on a hunger strike. In rural Cambodia, a motherless child finds a mother in a cow as he suckles her. Down in Australia a flood heroine, after rescuing her owner, is leading a pampered existence. In Brazil’s Pantanal swamps, a cow was seen wandering among the crocodiles while in India, the land of holy cows, a bull hero is booked out for two years. Meanwhile, up in the Alps, the Swiss are combating stress by renting out the mountain cows while in Germany, the nation’s focus has been on Yvonne, the runaway cow. There are numerous such stories here. Cows rule and cow rock! The great blind spot of our modern Civilization is the mistreatment and disregard for non-human life in nearly every capacity.