What was the impetus for your involvement with animal rights?

I was raised vegetarian by my parents, then gave it up for a while and then really got back into it when I started doing the research for When Elephants Weep. That was around ten years ago, and I've never eaten meat since.

But subsequently when I began working on the research for The Pig Who Sang to the Moon, I realized that being vegetarian wasn't enough for me, that I really had to consider veganism. I'm not a perfect vegan, but any little bit that you do helps, that's how I feel.

How are your wife and children with animal rights?

Well, my wife's vegan, as well; she's even stricter than I am. She's a doctor. And then we have two children, and they're both vegetarian.

Is your Sanskrit knowledge helpful in animal rights?

Yeah, sure. Like when I wanted to go look about cows, I found that knowing Sanskrit allowed me to look at some of the ancient Sanskrit literature about why cows are considered sacred in India. And plus, of course, since they have the longest tradition of vegetarianism of any country in the world. So that literature's in Sanskrit.

You've done a lot of traveling and lived in many places. How do other societies receive animal rights and other topics that you've written about?

Of course, India, totally open. Except in veganism-they don't know what you're talking about. But the Italians, it's a very small movement. The French, it's a small movement. In Germany it's much better. The Swedish are the most enlightened: they're the best when it comes to farm animals. They have the most vegetarians.

Why did you start writing full time?

I didn't have a choice. I was fired from my job at the Freud archives. I had resigned my position as professor at the university. And the only way I had to make a living was to write. And I wanted to write about animals.

What changes do you hope to bring about through your writing?

So much that I want to achieve. But most important is that people will start thinking about these animals the way people think about their dogs and cats.

How do you decide what you're going to write about next?

Permission from my editor. Also, I'm kind of obsessed with three areas. One is child abuse, one is animals, and one is the Holocaust. I have written about child abuse, but I've never written about the Holocaust. So I definitely want to write about that.

How do you do research for your books?

Mostly by reading. But for this book, I had to go to farms. And I didn't like that. But I did like going to sanctuaries. I should have visited a slaughterhouse; I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Which animals did you spend the most time with?

Pigs. Because I went to Animal Place - Kim Sturla, and she's totally into pigs. So I got to see what it was like living with a pig. I stayed at her place and a pig was living in the room with me, lying at the foot of the bed just like a dog.

Is that why you used a pig in the title and began the book with pigs?

Yeah. And I think it's easiest for people to sympathize with pigs. You know, they've seen Babe; very few people are obnoxious about pigs the way they are about chickens. Or sheep. So, our attitude about pigs has changed over the years. And it will about these other animals.

Something interesting in the first chapter: you said, "Like humans, pigs are omnivores."

Yes, they are. They will eat meat.

What about the humans?

Well, we are omnivores in the sense that most humans eat meat and vegetables. But we did not evolve to be carnivores. We don't have the teeth for it. And if you look at the diet of most hunter-gatherers: miniscule amount of meat. The women were out collecting roots, and growing vegetables, and picking fruits and berries and nuts and so on, and that's what they were eating. I haven't talked to some of the scientists doing this research, but I think the field is moving in that direction. That there's a sense that we were not evolved to be omnivores. We evolved to be vegetarians.

Could you give a few general comments on your new book?

Every author has one book. And I think this is my book. If I never write anything again, I'll feel like I've done something.

I'm learning stuff all the time. I just got a new book about pigs, and the mother pig will make the bed for her piglets every night. That's really sweet. I didn't know that when I wrote the book; course I would've put it in.

But I didn't talk about horses, rabbits, animals that do appear on a farm, but I didn't think of them as farmed animals. In a way, the title really should have been farmed animals, but it's a clumsy word. These are not animals on a farm, these are animals who have been farmed by us.

What advice do you have for young activists?

First of all, I think what they do is great. Activism is the way to go. They also need to be well-informed. It is important therefore that they read. And they've got to read the enemy, and they've got to read the friends. You've got to know their arguments.

And another advice would be: you have to lighten up a little bit. I have been to dinner with vegans in restaurants where they just torture the waitress. And it offends people. It's much better if you be friendly about it, and just get their curiosity going. I really believe now that anything that anyone does, anything at all, to lighten the burden is good. They can say, I'm not going to be vegetarian, but I can be vegetarian one day a week. Praise them. It's a beginning. It's good.

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