American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a nonprofit organization headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to preventing animal cruelty and neglect. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest animal welfare organization in the United States. While its initial focus was workhorses, in the twenty-first century, it dealt mainly with companion animals, such as dogs and cats. Among its many programs are a 24-hour animal poison control hotline, animal training and behavior modification, and mobile spay and neuter clinics. In the 2000s, the ASPCA has helped animals after natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Katrina in 2005, closed puppy mills, and ended dog-fighting rings. As of 2019, the ASPCA encompassed seven regional offices in four states and employed more than three hundred people who work to raise funds, provide veterinary care, sponsor bills, oversee shelter and adoption programs, and provide humane education.

Background

Henry Bergh (1811–1888) was a wealthy New Yorker on assignment in Russia as an American diplomat when he witnessed a carriage driver beating his fallen horse. Horrified by what he had seen, Bergh resigned from his position to devote his time and energy preventing cruelty to animals. In 1866, he founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in New York City. Shortly after, an anti-cruelty law was passed, and the ASPCA was allowed to enforce it.

Preventing animal cruelty during Bergh’s time was not easy, however. People did not care about or sympathize with the animals he wished to help, and cruelty to animals was commonplace throughout the United States. Workhorses were forced to pull overloaded carts, and dogcatchers kidnapped pet dogs and held them for ransom. Cockfighting and dog fighting were popular forms of entertainment.

Initially, the ASPCA focused on improving the lives of the more than one hundred thousand workhorses in New York City. Few laws protected these horses, whose average lifespan was only two to four years. Among the organization’s early achievements were putting into service a horse-drawn ambulance for injured workhorses and creating a sling to help downed horses or those who had fallen into rivers.

The ASPCA opened its first veterinary hospital in 1912. It offered free veterinary care for horses, dogs, and cats. Many achievements in animal care were made at this hospital. Its veterinarians became the first to operate on a horse with a broken kneecap and use radium to treat animal cancers. They also made advancements in its use of anesthesia in animal surgery and eventually performed the first open-heart surgery on a dog.

In 1966, the ASPCA helped pass the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). It is the only federal law regulating the treatment of animals in research and exhibition.

Overview

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the ASPCA became known for its achievements in animal rescue. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the ASPCA deployed its staff to the Gulf Coast and donated more than $13 million to area shelters. In 2007, it assisted in a federal investigation of a brutal dog-fighting ring run in part by former US quarterback Michael Vick. To increase the number of animal cruelty arrests in New York City, in 2013 the ASPCA partnered with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). In its first two years, the partnership increased the number of animal cruelty arrests in the city by more than 200 percent.

The organization continued its efforts to stop puppy mills, commercial breeding facilities that mass produce puppies in deplorable conditions. The ASPCA encouraged state and local leaders to ban the sale of pets in pet stores. Such an effort essentially closes down puppy mills in an area because the vast majority of puppies sold in pet stores come from puppy mills. The ASPCA has rescued countless dogs and puppies from puppy mills and worked to place them in shelters and rescues where they can be fostered until they are ready to be adopted into homes. The organization has also worked to promote legislation to stop puppy mills by strengthening regulations at both the federal and state levels.

The ASPCA has also been a leader in animal welfare. It pioneered the idea of cage-free shelters such as Maddie’s Pet Adoption in San Francisco, California, where the animals live in a home-like setting until they are adopted.

While the organization has helped a countless number of animals, it has had its share of controversy. In 2009, the Humane Society of California filed a complaint against the ASPCA with the attorney general, alleging that the organization’s commercials are misleading. After watching the ASPCA’s tear-jerking commercials featuring singer Sarah McLachlan, many people made donations believing that the money would go to their local SPCA. However, SPCA’s are independent nonprofits located throughout the United States, and the money people donated did not go to their local animal shelter; it instead went to the national organization.

Animal activists also point out that many people who donate to the ASPCA do not realize that it is a “kill shelter” that routinely euthanizes animals. The organization raises more than $100 million a year from its television commercials, yet it still euthanizes healthy, adoptable animals at its shelters. Beginning in 1890, the ASPCA had a contract with New York City in which it acted as animal control. While the ASPCA ended the contract in 1994, at the time, its kill rate was more than 50 percent.

In 2012, the ASPCA agreed to pay Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus nearly 10 million dollars to settle a lawsuit regarding the ASPCA’s allegations of animal cruelty by the circus. The courts found that ASPCA animal activists had paid a key witness, a barn worker for the circus, nearly two hundred thousand dollars to testify, diminishing his credibility.

Bibliography

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“ASPCA is Founded.” History, 27 Jul, 2019, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/aspca-is-founded. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.

“ASPCA Pays Nearly $10 Million to Feld Entertainment in Racketeering Lawsuit Settlement.” Humane Watch, 28 Dec. 2012, https://www.humanewatch.org/aspca‗settlement/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.

“History of the ASPCA.” ASPCA, https://www.aspca.org/about-us/history-of-the-aspca. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.

Lefave, Samantha. “Sarah McLachlan Reveals the Truth About Those Sad ASPCA Ads.” Redbook, 4 Jan. 2016, https://www.redbookmag.com/life/pets/news/a41805/sarah-mclachlan-aspca-commercial/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.

Lgerminder. “ASPCA: It All Started With a Horse.” Good News for Pets, 1 Dec. 2019, https://goodnewsforpets.com/history-of-aspca-started-with-a-horse/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.

“Pets Still Being Collected in Katrina’s Aftermath.” NPR, 22 Sept. 2005.

“Puppy Mills 101.” Barred from Love. ASPCA, https://www.aspca.org/barred-from-love/puppy-mills-101. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.

Reisman, Laurence. “ASPCA: Pet Transport Growing Tool for Southern Shelters.” US News, 6 Apr. 2019, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/louisiana/articles/2019-04-06/aspca-pet-transports-growing-tool-for-southern-shelters. Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.