CRUELTY TO ANIMALS, PREVENTION OF. The earlier laws on this subject were not so much the outcome of humane principles as for the protection of animals considered as property. At the common law cruel treatment of animals by their owner was a criminal offense only when it was so aggravated as to be a nuisance. But the general tendency of the nineteenth century toward the organization of philanthropy was not slow to operate in this direction. England was the first country- to organize (in 182-1) a society for the purpose. Legislative enactments fol lowed, and the statute of 1849 provides a penalty not exceeding t5 (in addition to a further sum recoverable as damages by the owner) for any person who 'shall cruelly beat, ill-treat, orer drive, abuse, or torture' a variety of domestic animals. The movement spread to Germany. France. and the United States. The first Ameri can society was chartered by the Legislature of New York in 1866, chiefly through the efforts of Henry Bergh (q.v.), who was its president for twenty-two years. Cruelty to domestic animals is now punishable in most of the United States by fines ranging from $5 to $100, or imprison ment from thirty to sixty days, or both. The Ohio law, as amended in 1893, specifies cruelty by beating, mutilating, lack of good food and water, carrying in an inhuman manner, overwork, and crowded transportation. The New Hampshire law of 1897 gives the officer making an arrest the right to seize the animal, notifying the owner, and to kill it if disabled, or to hold it as security for proper damages.
The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (founded 1867, incorpo rated 1364) is generally accepted as a model. It endeavors to prevent cruelty by moral sua sion and •ell-eousidered advice. rather than by coercion. It tries to educate where cruelty is due to ignorance, and thus attempts to secure the use of proper harness and bits for horses, and the abolition of the cheek-rein. A similar move ment in England against the check-rein, excessive curbing. and the docking of horses' tails received great impetus from the hearty support of K.icg Edward VII., then Prince of \Vales. The Penn sylvania society was the first to provide (1874) an ambulance for the removal of disabled ani mals and a derrick with chain pulley and sling for hoisting animals out of hole,. In several States the weight of a load which may be drawn up-hill is carefully regulated by the work of such societies: and homes are very generally estab lished for stray dogs and cats, where the animals are painlessly put to death in case of need. Sim ilar societies now exist in nearly every European country, in Algeria and South Africa, in Ans i ratio, and in i\lexico, Brazil. and the Argentine Bepublic. See VIVISECTION ; CRUELTY TO CHIL DREN, PREVENTION OF.