A lion tamer was charged with ‘cruelly infuriating a lioness’ by ‘poking her with a long stick’ <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Following a protracted campaign, however, the RSPCA managed to get the law extended to cover wild animals, making it an offence to \u201ccruelly abuse, infuriate, tease or terrify\u201d any menagerie inmate. With the new act on the statute books from 1900, RSPCA inspectors secured several convictions against animal tamers, often acting on tip-offs from the public. In May 1908, magistrates in Exeter fined lion tamer Richard Sedgewick 20s for \u201ccruelly infuriating a lioness\u201d by rattling the bars of her cage, firing a revolver and poking her with \u201ca long stick\u201d. The following November, magistrates at West London Police Court convicted elephant trainer William Schreida for \u201ccruelly terrifying\u201d an elephant by making it slide down a steep chute into a pool of water \u2013 a trick accomplished by digging \u201cthe pointed end of [an] elephant stick six times into the right cheek of the animal\u201d and prodding \u201cthe hook into his back\u201d.<\/p>\n
A screaming parrot<\/h3>\n
Pets had initially been excluded from the RSPCA\u2019s operations, since the law did not permit its officers to enter private property. Yet, as pet-keeping rose in popularity, cases of abused animals become depressingly familiar \u2013 and often ended up in the courts. In 1903, the RSPCA prosecuted \u201ca brutal passer-by\u201d for pulling the Dean of Peterborough\u2019s pet peacock off a wall and \u201cextract[ing] a number of its tail-feathers\u201d. In 1906 \u201cJohn Sutcliffe, 38, [of] Albert-road, Cleethorpes\u201d faced prosecution for keeping \u201cfour greyhound dogs locked up in a coalhouse\u201d without food. (The animals were so thin that Inspector Hill \u201ccould count every notch of the backbone and every rib in the body\u201d.)<\/p>\n
As with working animals, campaigners realised that education was the key to securing better treatment of Britain\u2019s pets. A media campaign in the 1890s urged readers to provide for their cats when\nthey went on holiday, \u201cinstead of consigning them to a lingering death by starvation in empty houses\u201d.<\/p>\n
A special correspondence section in The Animal World<\/em> answered readers\u2019 questions about sick or unhappy pets and provided a forum where owners could share information and tips. One correspondent sought advice on \u201chow to cure a parrot of screaming\u201d. A second asked: \u201cHow it is possible to keep a white Persian kitten clean?\u201d A third solicited treatment suggestions for a cockatoo who was \u201cpulling out his new feathers directly they appear\u201d. She was advised to feed the bird with lettuce leaves, watercress and ripe blackber- ries and to give it \u201ca gentle shower-bath, softly administered with the garden hose\u201d.<\/p>\n
Wild animals also assumed a growing profile within RSPCA campaigns as rocketing market demand for animal body parts pushed multiple species towards extinction. The 1870s and 80s witnessed a craze for feathers on women\u2019s hats, triggering the mass slaughter of egrets, hummingbirds and birds of paradise. The same decades saw a surge in demand for sealskin jackets, putting Alaska\u2019s fur seal population under strain. The RSPCA denounced these abuses, lobbying the government for legal protection of wild animals (particularly birds) and publishing emotive articles about butchered seals and starving egret chicks.<\/p>\n
Campaigners also spoke up on behalf of living animal commodities, calling for more humane treatment of animals during transit. In 1882, the RSPCA bemoaned the plight of tortoises, which were sent from Africa packed \u201clike herrings in a barrel\u201d, so that \u201csilly people may amuse themselves with a plaything for a few days\u201d.<\/p>\n
The RSPCA was notably slower to attack hunting for sport. It criticised particularly gruesome or unsporting events, such as pigeon shooting and the hunting of carted deer, but refrained from a direct assault on fox-hunting \u2013 in which some of its members engaged. This elicited charges of hypocrisy from critics, who felt that working-class entertainments were being unfairly targeted. Speaking in 1913, after being convicted of \u201ccruelly terrifying a lioness\u201d in his travelling menagerie, showman Albert Mander re- marked snidely that \u201cI suppose there is no cruelty in a lot of dogs running after a fox\u201d.<\/p>\n
An element of class-discrimination was also notable in other RSPCA campaigns. A ban on dog carts in 1854 put many poor traders out of work, while attacks on itinerant dancing bears in the 1870s and 80s targeted foreign showmen.<\/p>\n
In fact, in an age of imperialism, advocates of animal protection could be accused of pursuing some kind of \u2018civilising mission\u2019, targeting traditional practices such as cockfighting or the consumption of dog meat while turning a blind eye to more \u2018elite\u2019 pursuits. Perhaps most bizarrely of all, in the 1870s the RSPCA advocated the culling of tigers in India, on the grounds that they \u201ccannot be civilised, but on the contrary are destined to destroy human life\u201d.<\/p>\n
So the band of reformers and evangelists who founded the RSPCA 200 years ago weren\u2019t, perhaps, always on the right side of history. However, there\u2019s little doubt that, by standing up for the creatures great and small of Victorian Britain, they transformed attitudes to animal welfare across the 19th century.<\/p>\n
Helen Cowie is a professor of history at the University of York.<\/strong> She is author of Victims of Fashion: Animal Commodities in Victorian Britain<\/em> (Cambridge, 2021)<\/strong><\/p>\n
This article was first published in the April 2024 issue of BBC History Magazine<\/a><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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