Scientists have proven what pet owners already knew - cuddling with your dog or cat is good for you ? and for your pet. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, keeping animals well, and how they return the favor. From gorilla conservation and eco-tourism to the dilemmas posed by advances in veterinary care, and how animals medicate themselves in the wild, it's an hour of Creature Comfort.

Biologist Cindy Engel is the author of "Wild Health: How Animals Keep Themselves Well and What We Can Learn from Them." She tells Steve Paulson that wild animals self-medicate in a number of ways and that there is really no difference for animals between nutrition and medicine. Also, TTBOOK reporter Benson Gardner chronicles the ethical dilemmas posed by advanced veterinary care. How much should you do for an ailing pet? Where do you draw the line, and why? And does refusing to put your pet through hip replacement surgery or a kidney transplant make you a bad person?

Linda Kohanov is a horse trainer and riding instructor who specializes in equine facilitated psychotherapy. She tells Anne Strainchamps horses can mirror the authentic feeling of their riders and help people process what's going on under their social mask. And because of their size and power, horses help people become consciously aware of what's going on in their environment ? including their own emotional environment. Kohanov's book is "The Tao of Equus."

Amy Vedder and Bill Weber founded the Mountain Gorilla Project in Rwanda some twenty-five years ago. They tell Jim Fleming about their uneasy relationship with the gorillas' public champion, Diane Fossey, and why they feel she was not a conservationist. They explain how they envision eco-tourism preserving the gorilla habitat and talk about the effects on the gorillas of the recent warfare and slaughter in Rwanda. Also, Judy Blunt was born on a cattle ranch in Montana. She talks with Anne Strainchamps about her attitude towards animals, and why she finally had to walk away from ranch life. Blunt is now a writer is Missoula, Montana. Her memoir is "Breaking Clean."

Books:

• Judy Blunt, Breaking Clean (Knopf)
• Cindy Engel, Wild Health: How Animals Keep Themselves Well and What We Can Learn from Them (Houghton Mifflin)
• Linda Kohanov, The Tao of Equus: A Woman's Journey of Healing and Transformation through the Way of the Horse (New World Library)
• Bill Weber and Amy Vedder, In the Kingdom of Gorillas: Fragile Species in a Dangerous Land (Simon and Schuster)

Music:

• Jay Unger and Molly: ?Cows on the Hill? from soundtrack to ?Brother?s Keeper? (Angel CDC 0777 7 54828 2 9)
• Arnie Naiman and Chris Coole: ?Mind the Gap? from ?Five Strings Attached with No Backing?
  MOICA Merriweather Records, 11109; Crawford Rose Dr Aurora, Ontario, L4G 481 Canada
• Eudice Shapiro, Ralph Berkowitz: Tarantella from Igor Stravinsky's ?Pulcinella Suite? (Crystal CD302)
• Samite of Uganda: ?Munamateka? from Pearl of Africa Reborn (Shannachie 65008)
• Cathy Horner: ?At Frog Level? from They Don?t Bite
  Contact: Cathy Horner, 900 Ficklen Rd, Fredericksburg, VA 22405 or cathorner@1bigred.com

Distribution dates:

• week of 03/10/2002 - hour 1