Animal Communication: A New Paradigm?

People are becoming more willing to explore. Arthur Myers, a former journalist with the Washington Post, was intrigued by the idea of animal communication but skeptical. He chose to interview people who said that they were animal communicators and people who used them. He compiled these conversations into a book called, Communicating With Animals. The Spiritual Connection Between People and Animals (1997). In fact, I credit this book as the impetus prompting me learn more.

I did not come naturally to my acceptance of animal communication as fact. Sure, I loved animals, felt a special bond with them, but did I think I could actually hear them talk? No. I’m a Harvard undergrad, Cornell Law School lawyer, and there are not too many other professions that train you so assiduously to go after the facts and then stick to them. When I read the Myers’s book, I was surprised to find an interview with a Maine veterinarian. This veterinarian accepted that SOMETHING he could not explain was going on. With cautious interest, I contacted the communicators this veterinarian mentioned. Then, I attended their seminars and was able to determine for myself that there was something I could not explain going on. I proceeded to examine what I “thought” I was hearing carefully. 

First I tried on my own animals. Then I practiced on friends’ animals, asking questions that had definite right or wrong answers, things that I personally wouldn’t know but that my friends could verify. I kept getting information that I could not have known through any of the normal channels, information that my friends kept validating. Of course, I wondered a bit whether my friends might be trying a bit too hard to validate. So, I chose to remove friendship from the mix. 

I contacted a local rescue organization and asked if I could volunteer my animal communication services. They agreed. All the rescued animals were wild marine mammals. For five months, once a week, I would go to the facility and speak with the animals in residence, specifically focusing on how they were feeling physically. The volunteer notes and my communications were in agreement 71% of the time. I used this rough study as a basis to contact Tufts Vet School to inquire whether they would be interested in doing any research in this area. One graduate student was. She contacted me, and we designed and performed a preliminary study, the results of which indicated a 69% rate of accuracy in my communications.

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