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Vicki Hearne (February 13, 1946—August 21, 2001) was an American author, philosopher, poet, animal trainer, and scholar of literary criticism and linguistics.

Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Victoria Elizabeth Hearne received her B.A. in English from the University of California, Riverside. She subsequently spent more than twenty-five years studying animal behavior as a horse and dog trainer. Central to Hearne's view on animal training was her belief that animals should not be defined by behaviorists' dictates, that in their individuality they have the capacity to be in recriprocal relationships with humans both emotionally and morally. She authored several books on animals and animal-training theory, including Adam's Task, Bandit, and Animal Happiness. She received a 1992 award for outstanding literary achievement from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

A longtime resident of Westbrook, Connecticut, Vicki Hearne was 55 when she died of lung cancer at the Connecticut Hospice in Branford. She was survived by her husband, Robert Tragesser, and daughter from a previous marriage, Colleen.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vicki Hearne", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0