Everyone has had an intriguing moment with an animal-good, bad, happy, sad. I have had enough to fill up an entire lifetime, and I am just getting started.

From horses and ponies to frogs and snakes, cats and dogs to macaws and piranhas, I have seen and handled more than my fair share of animals. I have cared for them, bred them, and kept them as pets. In turn, they have taught me invaluable lessons.

And many times, I have lost them. My family lost countless when we lost the first farm. We had to sell cows and chickens as both our dairy and poultry farms failed. Dogs have been run over, ponies and horses sold when they could no longer be kept. Yet their memories follow me, even as I make a decision that will change the fate of my entire family.

Animals may be gone but never forgotten.

THE FOLK AND THEIR FAUNA: THE STORY OF ONE MAN'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH ANIMALS recounts only a sample of the countless ways in which animals have touched my life-just as they have touched everyone's lives in one way or another. It will appeal to animal lovers and lovers of the rural and farming lifestyles.

Scott D. Gottschalk