Gaia bags memoir and nature writing polemic from Wensley

Gaia, an imprint of Octopus, has bagged Through a Vet’s Eyes: How We Can All Choose a Better Life for Animals by UK veterinarian Dr Sean Wensley.  

Natalie Bradley, senior commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Jessica Woollard at David Higham Associates. Through a Vet’s Eyes will be published on 28th April 2022.  

Wensley takes us through the years he trained to become a vet and shares first-hand accounts of how animals are treated and used for our benefit. Examining different levels of welfare afforded to animals reveals how we, as consumers, have a choice and, inevitably, a duty to reduce our animal welfare footprint through the choices we make every day. Ultimately, Wensley’s debut is an “eye-opening” book about our relationship with animals. 

The author is an award-winning vet and recent president of the British Veterinary Association. He also chairs the Animal Welfare Working Group of the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe, representing veterinary organisations from 40 European countries. In 2017 Wensley received the inaugural World Veterinary Association Global Animal Welfare Award for Europe and is a fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.  

Bradley commented: “As a leading UK vet, policymaker and global advocate for animal welfare, Sean Wensley is in a unique position to write this book. Written with the care he affords each animal he meets, Through a Vet’s Eyes showcases not only Sean’s wealth of knowledge but his passion for the natural world. It is wonderful to have an author like him and a book like this at Gaia.”  

Wensley said: “‘With high public and political interest in animal welfare, and current attention focused on topics such as animal sentience, humane and sustainable global agriculture and breeding pets for looks over health, there is a heightened need for evidence-based information to help us all understand these issues and what they mean from the animals’ perspectives. I am passionate, as a veterinarian, to assist with providing that information, sharing some of my experiences to bring the issues to life and I am delighted to be working with the brilliant team at Gaia to be able to do so.”