The dogs of the black death
The Black Death Dogs (orig. The Plague Dogs ) is a 1977 novel by the English writer Richard Adams . The German-language edition was published by Ullstein Verlag in 1979 , and Mechtild Sandberg took care of the translation.
action
Animals are cruelly abused in the name of science at a research institute in the English Lake District . So are the two dogs Wuff (No. 732) and Snitter (No. 815).
Wuff, a strong black promenade mixture , is terrified of water through many experiments in a water tank. Brain surgery was performed on Snitter, a small fox terrier . Snitter blames himself for an accident in which his master died. With the brain operation, Snitter lives between dream and reality.
One day the two dogs manage to escape from the institute. They go in search of a place without cruelty. Snitter longs for a new master who will look after him as well as his master once did. Wuff, on the other hand, believes that all human beings are cruel. They try to survive in the wild, but the experiments have weaned them from freedom.
They soon meet a fox who teaches them to survive. Woof and snitter learn how to prey on sheep and chickens. It seems that Woof and Snitter can live in the wild, but that's about to change.
An ambitious reporter spreads the news that the two dogs are carriers of the bubonic plague . With this false report a relentless hunt for the dogs begins .
effect
In his novel, the author criticizes the sense and purpose of animal experiments and makes a plea against cruelty to animals . The English weekly newspaper The Observer called this novel the real successor to Bottom by the River .
>> The fate of two dogs is symbolic of the overexploitation that humans commit on nature. A poetic, powerful, passionately committed story full of love and hope - against violence and for freedom. << (The Daily Telegraph)
filming
The book was made into a cartoon by Martin Rosen under the title The dogs are going . The movie uses the same drawing style as the movie Down by the River .