Wikimedia Commons// Public domain
Henry Bergh may have been something of a disappointment to his parent . Bornin 1813to a wealthy New York City family , he enjoyed the privilege that his position entail , but apparently wanted none of the responsibility . Yet despite an aimless youth , Bergh would eventually make good . He became the most salient counselor-at-law for animal rights in the United States and the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals .
Although his founder made a chance edifice ships , Bergh did n’t desire to work in the family business enterprise . He was not concerned in a vocation , or at least not a conventional one , and dropped out of college . After impart school day , he devoted his time to art and poetry , spending his parents ’ money tour the orb . He wrote a few plays , which fall flat , and live less than two years at the only diplomatical job his politically influential friend fix for him .
However , it was his travels through Europe and prison term in Russia that would eventually present him with a cause he enthusiastically champion — the defensive structure of animal rights .
While traveling through Europe from 1847 to 1850 , Berghwitnessed various forms of animal mercilessness , noting them in the diaries he kept of his travel . He attended a bullfight in Spain , and verbalize his disgust at the elbow room bulls were treat . In 1863 , President Lincoln appointed him to the United States Embassy in Russia . During his shortly - live diplomatic Wiley Post there , Bergh encountered a pushchair cavalry being scramble and chastised the driver , who was shocked at his scandal over an animal .
Bergh decided he wanted to do something to protect animal , and find his inspiration in England . As Bergh was returning to the United States in 1865 , he halt in England , where he met the president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ( RSPCA ) . found in 1824 , the RSPCA was originally focused in the first place on the treatment of English horses and livestock .
The mistreatment of horse was just as common in Bergh ’s hometown of New York City . fit in to Nancy Furstinger , author ofMercy : The Incredible Story of Henry Bergh , in the tardy nineteenth century up to 300,000 horses transported goods and hoi polloi in New York City . hunger , overworking , and beating these Equus caballus was old-hat . And these were far from the only animals to be cruelly mistreated .
Bergh decided to create an organization like to the RSPCA in the United States . On his take to New York , he drafted aDeclaration of the Rights of Animalsand asked his influential friends to sign on it . On April 10 , 1866 , the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated , created to monitor abuse and persist in the competitiveness for animal right . The next week , the 1866 New York Actamended a previous anti - cruelty law of nature to admit for the enforcement and punishment of offender who empty beast .
Bergh knew the laws would not be effective if they could not be enforced . The next legislating he worked to spend was the 1867 New York Act , which made animal fight illegal , mandated proper care for and transport of beast , and gave the ASPCA the power to implement penalization for offense against animals that would now be considered misdemeanor . A few year after other states adopted the same laws .
“ A savvy showman , he made manipulation of the publicity his activities drew from many newspaper in New York to depict care to other animals : turnspit dogs who ran 16 60 minutes on rotating treadmills to turn meat over a fervency , infernal region dogs who fought while gamblers bet on the termination and century of isolated detent who were drowned in the river each day , ” Furstinger toldmental_floss .
Bergh also worked to meliorate the treatment of volaille , which at the time were scalded and pick live by butchers ; ocean turtles that were keep upside down for weeks while ship carry them to chef ; and cattle and pigs on their way to slaughter . He even took on P.T. Barnum , now most illustrious for Barnum & Bailey Circus , protesting thefeeding of hot rabbitsto circus reptiles . Bergh also chastised hunters for pigeon shooting and Charles James Fox hunt .
While his efforts on behalf of animal hadinfluential garter , such as Louisa May Alcott , Ralph Waldo Emerson , and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , his attempts to reform public opinion were not always met with approval .
“ In the 19th century , the feeling that creature should be treated humanely was a rotatory concept , ” Furstinger toldmental_floss . “ Bergh was ridiculed as ‘ The Great Meddler ’ and satirize in sarcastic cartoon , but he found his representative as an animal protector and tramp the street on his mission of clemency , exposing cruelness and lecturing to any group who would listen . ”
Scribner ’s Monthly viaWikimedia Commons// Public Domain
Bergh did not just speak the talk . He also police the street in o.k. suit and top hats , get sure the anti - cruelty laws were implement . He in person interpose when he encountered an act of cruelty . In one such case , Bergh discoveredthat a boatload of turtle had been ship from Florida with their flipper pierce and tie together . He approach the police captain of the sauceboat and asked him to give the polo-neck over . The police chief refused so Bergh arrested him and member of this gang . ( However , a judge force out the slip after the captain successfully argue that turtle did n’t characterize as animals under the police , and the holes in the louver would have felt like “ a mosquito pungency ” to the turtle . )
Bergh ’s effort on behalf of animals also led to a slap-up recognition of the rights of children . In 1874 , a church service prole come near him on behalf of a child who was perplex daily by her foster female parent . The worker had come near several citizenry about the case but Bergh was the first to respond . He used his influence to secure hold of the child . In 1875 , after the child ’s foster mother was convict of assault , Bergh and his ASPCA legal counselfounded The New York Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children(SPCC ) . The SPCC was the cosmos ’s first minor protective agency . The fry at the center of the abuse case was placed in an institution for teenage girls , but was presently fill in by the family of the Christian church doer who had first brought her lawsuit to Bergh ’s attention .
Bergh preserve to lead the ASPCA for 22 old age and also served as a dining table penis for the Audubon Society . He conk out at the age of 74 , during theGreat Blizzard of 1888 , and is inter in Brooklyn ’s Green - Wood Cemetery .
Today , many laws protect America ’s animals , although animal advocates still fight for in force protection .
“ Animal organizations continue to wage many of the same battles against animal pitilessness that Bergh did , ” Furstinger toldmental_floss . “ They lobby for stronger laws to protect carriage gymnastic horse and farm animals , and they talk out against dogfight and forcing wild and exotic animal to execute in circus . ”
However , Bergh ’s advocacy helped terminate some of the contumely suffered by animate being , and help to change how society saw violence against animals . His work continue to positively tempt position today .
Header effigy : Wikimedia// Public Domain
