A Brief History of the American Anti-Vivisection Society
as the ‘moral compass’ of American society. Caring for the weak and voiceless in society was the focus of progressive era reforms. Animal welfare fit into this category perfectly. Into this progressive era milieu stepped Caroline Earle White and Mary Frances Lovell—both influential women of Philadelphia inspired by their work alongside their husbands in the Pennsylvania Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals (PSPCA). Feeling that they had more to offer to the cause than they could within the PSPCA, White and Lovell founded an auxiliary organization—the Women’s Branch of the PSPCA (WBPSPCA), known today as the Women’s Humane Society of Pennsylvania—in 1869. Both White and Lovell believed the humane treatment of animals was a moral issue that Americans could not ignore. The WBSPCA and PSPCA focused their early activities on fighting cruelty to horses and service animals as well as humane treatment and sheltering for dogs and cats. As the first animal experimentation laboratories opened in the 1860s and 1870s, White and Lovell realized that their efforts were also needed on this front. Inspired by the legislative success of Cobb and the Animal Cruelty Act, White traveled to London to meet the pioneer animal advocate. In 1883, White returned to Philadelphia and called a special meeting of the WBPSPCA during which the American Anti-Vivisection Society was formed. White and Lovell were convinced that “preventing torture in the labs should be the exclusive work of a concerned organization.”2 Though the President and other founding officers of AAVS were men, White became the Corresponding Secretary, and both she and Lovell remained the organization’s greatest advocates. Feeding the fears of Science readers, AAVS wasted no time in pursuing its goals of antivivisection legislation. In 1885, AAVS proposed its first legislation. The Bill to Restrict Vivisection was defeated, but it marked the first attempt made by AAVS to seek legislation to end vivisection. In 1900, AAVS president Dr. Matthew Woods testified before the U.S. Congress in favor of the
In 1876, the British in science and society. Parliament passed the In the following years, first anti-vivisection however, AAVS refocused law, the Cruelty to its mission, dedicating itself Animals Act. The result to the complete abolition of public outcry against of vivisection in the United vivisection led by Frances States. Over the past 125 Power Cobbe and her years, AAVS has continued Victoria Street Society, to speak for the prohibition the Act was passed by of animal experimentation Parliament to regulate by advocating legislation, the use of animals in education and public scientific research awareness, and alternative and experimentation research methods. in Great Britain. By The women we recognize 1883, the readers of today as the founders of AAVS Science, the organ of the were pioneers in the world of American Association animal welfare but not in the for the Advancement of sphere of reform movements. Science (AAAS), were The late nineteenth and early warned that American scientists in the United twentieth centuries saw a rise in reform movements States faced similar publicity and legislation. In the known as the Progressive Era. Inspired by the new face of this threat, the author advised the medical science of sociology and cultural movements like profession to “inform the laity” how and why animal the social gospel, middle and upper class Americans experimentation was used in scientific research.1 increasingly engaged in reform movements aimed While many animal welfare advocates on both at uplifting the downtrodden and improving society. sides of the Atlantic lamented the weaknesses Women were central to the Progressive Era reforms. of the Cruelty to Animals Act, the authors of In the late nineteenth century, women made great Science recognized a nascent movement forming strides in reform movements like Temperance, among Philadelphians in 1883. Inspired by their Sunday Schools, food and drug regulation, women’s relationships with British leaders like Cobbe, a suffrage, and child-labor laws. In a world where group of Philadelphians formed the American women were supposed to be relegated to their Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) in 1883 with the own ‘separate sphere,’ many women joined goal of regulating reform movements the use of animals By Lily Santoro, Ph.D. Candidate, AAVS Archives Intern where in they acted
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Gallinger Bill, an act to regulate vivisection, based upon the British Cruelty to Animals Act. Though the bill did not pass, the publicity surrounding Woods’ testimony encouraged many members of the medical profession to join AAVS. The Society encouraged readers to contact their Congressmen in 1907 when AAVS successfully kept Congress from altering the 28-Hour Law, which ensured livestock would be fed, watered, and rested at least every 28 hours during transport.3 Through the efforts of AAVS and the American Humane Association, Congress not only upheld the 28-Hour Law but also worked to enforce it. Throughout AAVS history, this interest in legislative solutions has persisted. Throughout the twentieth century, the society proposed and supported legislation to end pound seizure and regulate and restrict the use of animals in research. In recent history, AAVS has called for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to comply with the Animal Welfare Act by providing minimal standards of care and treatment to a wider range of animals, including 95 percent of animals used in research—birds, mice, and rats. AAVS has also promoted student choice legislation in states around the country. While AAVS’s early legislative attempts were not always successful, its voice got louder as the nineteenth century came to a close. To this end, in 1892, the Society began publication of its first magazine, The Journal of Zoophily—printed in conjunction with the Women’s Branch of PSPCA. With education as its mission, Zoophily included news on vivisection and animal welfare issues, encouraged readers to support “humane education” (i.e. teaching children the importance of treating animals with kindness), and informed members about the Society’s latest legislative ventures. For example, in the spring of 1905, readers learned that the Society’s recently proposed bill to encourage “humane education” in the U.S. Congress had gained committee approval. Meanwhile, AAVS continued in its crusade for public awareness by notifying the public on the “evils” of vivisection. In 1910, the Society formed
A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN ANTI-VIVISECTION SOCIETY