Sunday, April 10, marks the 145th birthday of the ASPCA, the oldest humane organization in the Western Hemisphere (but we’ve been told we don’t look a day over 100!). When our founder, Henry Bergh, first spoke up for animals in Civil War-era New York, America was not a very animal-friendly place—but Bergh, a gifted speaker with friends in high places, rallied people to the cause and succeeded in getting the New York State Legislature to pass the charter incorporating the ASPCA on April 10, 1866. Nine days later, the first effective anti-cruelty law was passed and, with a team of three, the ASPCA began working to enforce it.
Well before the days of radio, television and the Internet, the ASPCA quickly changed the way America thinks about animals. Within five years of our founding, SPCAs had sprung up in cities including Boston, Buffalo and San Francisco. By the time Bergh died in 1888, 37 of the 38 states in the Union had passed anti-cruelty laws.
Go Orange for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month!
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