cover image Rescue Ink: How Ten Guys Saved Countless Dogs and Cats, Twelve Horses, Five Pigs, One Duck, and a Few Turtles

Rescue Ink: How Ten Guys Saved Countless Dogs and Cats, Twelve Horses, Five Pigs, One Duck, and a Few Turtles

Rescue Ink, with Denise Flaim. . Viking, $25.95 (244pp) ISBN 978-0-670-02116-1

The brawny and heavily tattooed bikers constituting Rescue Ink, formed officially in 2008, have put a bounty on abusive dog (and other animal) owners. For almost a year, Flaim (The Holistic Dog Book ) rode along with Batso, Big Ant, Johnny O, Angel, G and their five intimidating compadres on “in your face” missions to rescue abused and neglected animals, track down stolen dogs, teach compassion toward animals to high school students, rescue an estimated 180 cats from a house and—in one harrowing account—confront a cruel recluse who was killing squirrels, birds and strays in his backyard for sport. Flaim ably blends colorful profiles of the individual members—Joe Panz “is the kind of guy who could break out in hives just from saying the word frappuccino”—with journalistic accounts of their interventions with “trappers, torturers and garden-variety dirtbags.” Starring in a National Geographic reality television show premiering this fall, the all-volunteer group's commitment inspires and endears. Photos. (Sept.)