ASPCA Incorporated – Anniversary

Apr 10, 1866. American diplomat Henry Bergh, angry at the widespread abuse of animals (cockfighting, whipping of cart horses, starving of working dogs and more) sought its end through the creation of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the New York State legislature. On this day, the charter was passed, and on Apr 19, 1866, the first animal cruelty laws were passed. Bergh based the formation of the ASPCA on Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that had been founded in 1840. “It is a moral question in all its aspects,” Bergh persuasively argued.