The book examines several issues, including the cruelty observed in children's behaviour, the brutality of blood sports, and the unnecessary harm caused by hunting and fishing for leisure.

Throughout, Young highlights animals' sentience and capacity for suffering, urging readers to recognize their ethical responsibility to ensure humane treatment.

Young argues that acts of violence against animals desensitise individuals, fostering a general disposition of cruelty that can extend to human interactions.

He underscores this by highlighting animals' sentience—their ability to perceive pleasure and pain—and argues that this capacity places a moral obligation on humans to treat them with compassion.

Young links humanity's treatment of animals with moral and spiritual well-being, drawing on Christian teachings and natural evidence to emphasise the duty of compassion and the Creator's intention for the happiness of all sentient beings.

Young dedicates a chapter to the mistreatment of horses, which he describes as noble and indispensable animals often subjected to overwork, mutilation, and abuse.

[1] The Monthly Mirror praised the book for its compelling arguments against animal cruelty, recommending it to those involved in activities like horse racing and cockfighting.

[12] In 2001, Rod Preece released an edited volume through Edwin Mellen Press, which included an introduction, annotations, and a foreword contributed by David Fraser.