Timeline of animal welfare and rights

This page is a timeline of major events in the history of animal welfare and animal rights.

Big picture

Period Description
c.14000-1000 BCE The domestication of animals begins with dogs. From 8500 to 1000 BCE, cats, sheep, goats, cows, pigs, chickens, donkeys, horses, silkworms, camels, bees, ducks, and reindeer are domesticated by various civilizations.[1]
1000 BCE-700Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism teach ahimsa, nonviolence toward all living beings. Many adherents of these religions forego meat-eating and animal sacrifice, and – in the case of Jainism – take great precautions to avoid injuring animals. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are less comprehensive in their concern for animals, but include some provisions for humane treatment.[2] A number of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers advocate for vegetarianism and kindness toward animals.[3] Vivisection for scientific and medical purposes begins in ancient Greece.[4] Under the influence of Buddhism, a ban on meat-eating is instated in Japan.[5]
1600-1800Philosophers take up the question of animals and their treatment, some arguing that they are sentient beings who deserve protection.[6][7][8] The first modern animal protection laws are passed in Ireland and the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[9]
1800-1914British Parliament passes the first national animal protection legislation, and the first animal protection and vegetarian organizations form in the U.S. and U.K..[10] The American and British anti-vivisection movements grow in the late 19th century, culminating in the Brown Dog affair and declining sharply thereafter.[11] The Japanese taboo against meat-eating dies out under the Meiji Restoration.[12]
1914-1966The use of animals grows tremendously with the beginning of intensive animal agriculture in the 1920s[13] and the increasing role of animal experimentation in science and cosmetics.[14] Media coverage of animal abuses spurs concern over animal welfare in the U.S. and U.K., and helping bring about the first federal animal welfare legislation in the U.S.[15][16] The theoretical possibility of in vitro animal products is recognized.[17]
1966-2016Consumption of intensively farmed animal products booms worldwide, with global meat production rising from approximately 78 million tons in 1963 to 308 million tons in 2014.[18] In the US and Europe, books, documentaries, and media coverage of controversies surrounding animal cruelty boost the animal rights and welfare movements,[19][20][21][22] while destructive direct actions by groups like the Animal Liberation Front draw public rebuke and government crackdown.[23][24] Research on in vitro animal products gains traction,[17] resulting in the first in vitro meats.[25][26] Beginning in the late 1980s, Europe takes the lead in animal welfare reform.[23] In the West and some other countries, public interest in animal welfare, animal rights, and plant-based diets increases significantly.[27][28][29][30]

Full timeline

Year Event
c. 530 BCE Greek philosopher Pythagoras is the first in a line of several Greek and Roman philosophers to teach that animals have souls and advocate for vegetarianism.[3]
c. 269-c. 232 BCE Indian emperor Ashoka converts to Buddhism and issues edicts advocating vegetarianism and offering protections to wild and domestic animals.[31]
100sGreek medical researcher and philosopher Galen's experiments on live animals help establish vivisection as a widely used scientific tool.[4][32]
675Japanese Emperor Tenmu, a devout Buddhist, bans eating meat (with exceptions for fish and wild animals).[5]
Early 1600s Philosopher and scientist René Descartes argues that animals are machines without feeling, and performs biological experiments on living animals.[6]
1635 The Parliament of Ireland passes "An Act against Plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wooll off living Sheep", one of the first known pieces of animal protection legislation.[9]
1641 Regulations against “Tirranny or Crueltie” toward domestic animals are included in the Massachusetts Body of Liberties.[9]
1687The Japanese ban on eating meat, which had waned with the arrival of Portuguese and Dutch missionaries, is reintroduced by the Tokugawa shogunate. Killing animals is also prohibited.[5]
1780 In An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation philosopher Jeremy Bentham argues for better treatment of animals on the basis of their ability to feel pleasure and pain, famously writing, "The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?"[8]
1822 Lead by Richard Martin, British Parliament passes the "Act to Prevent the Cruel and Improper Treatment of Cattle".[33]
1824 Richard Martin, along with Reverend Arthur Broome and abolitionist Member of Parliament William Wilberforce, founds the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (now the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), the world's first animal protection organization.[33]
1830sEarly vegan and anti-vivisectionist Lewis Gompertz leaves the SPCA to found the Animals' Friend Society, opposing all uses of animals which are not for their benefit.[34]
1835 Britain passes its first Cruelty to Animal Act after lobbying from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, expanding existing legislation to protect bulls, dogs, bears, and sheep, and prohibit bear-bating and cock-fighting.[35]
1847The term "vegetarian" is coined and the Vegetarian Society is founded in Britain.[36]
1859Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species is published, demonstrating that humans are the evolutionary descendants of non-human animals.[37]
1866The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is established.[15]
1866 onwardsUnder the Meiji Restoration and renewed contact with the West, the Japanese taboo against meat-eating is actively discouraged by the government. Meat-eating soon becomes the norm.[12]
1875Frances Power Cobbe founds the National Anti-Vivisection Society in Britain, the world's first anti-vivisection organization.[11]
1876After lobbying from anti-vivisectionists, Britain passes the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1876, the first piece of national legislation to regulate animal experimentation.[16]
1877Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, the first English novel to be written from the perspective of a non-human animal, spurs concern for the welfare of horses.[11]
1892Social reformer Henry Salt publishes Animals' Rights: Considered in Relation to Social Progress, an early exposition of the philosophy of animal rights.[10]
1903-1910The Brown Dog affair brings anti-vivisection to the forefront of public debate in Britain.[11]
1923Intensive animal farming begins when Celia Steele raises her first flock of chickens for meat.[13]
1944Donald Watson coins the word "vegan" and founds The Vegan Society in Britain.[36]
Early 1950sWillem van Eelen recognizes the possibility of generating meat from tissue culture.[17]
1955The Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL), the first organization to lobby for humane slaughter legislation in the US, is founded.[15]
1958The American Humane Slaughter Act is passed.[15]
1960Indian parliament passes its first national animal welfare legislation, The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.[38]
1964The Hunt Saboteurs Association is founded in England to sabotage hunts and oppose bloodsports.[39]
1964Ruth Harrison's Animal Machines, which documents the conditions of animals on industrial farms, helps to galvanize the animal movement in Britain.[23]
1964Largely due to the outcry following Animal Machines, British Parliament forms the Brambell Committee to investigate animal welfare. The Committee concludes that animals should be afforded the Five Freedoms, which consist of the animal's freedom to “have sufficient freedom of movement to be able without difficulty to turn around, groom itself, get up, lie down, [and] stretch its limbs.”[23][40]
1966Following public outcry over the cases of Pepper and other mistreated animals, the American Animal Welfare Act is passed. This legislation sets minimum standards for handling, sale, and transport of dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, rabbits, hamsters, and guinea pigs, and instates conservative regulations on animal experimentation.[16]
1970Animal rights activist Richard Ryder coins the term "speciesism" to describe the devaluing of nonhuman animals on the basis of species alone.[41]
1971The United States Department of Agriculture excludes birds, mice, and rats - which make up the vast majority of animals used in research - from protection under the Animal Welfare Act.[42][43]
1974Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman of the Band of Mercy, a militant group founded by former members of the Hunt Saboteurs Association, are jailed for firebombing a British animal research center.[44]
1974The Council of Europe passes a directive requiring that animals be rendered unconscious before slaughter.[23]
1974Henry Spira founds Animal Rights International after attending a course on animal liberation given by Peter Singer.[45]
1975Peter Singer publishes Animal Liberation, whose depictions of the conditions of animals on farms and in laboratories and utilitarian arguments for animal liberation are to have a major influence on the animal movement.[19]
1976The European Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes, which mandates that animals be kept in conditions meeting their “physiological and ethological needs”, is passed.[23]
1976Released from prison, Ronnie Lee founds the Animal Liberation Front in Britain, which soon spreads to the US.[44]
1976-1977Under the leadership of Henry Spira, Animal Rights International leads a successful campaign to end harmful experiments performed on cats at the American Museum of Natural History.[46]
1980A campaign by Animal Rights International opposing Draize tests performed on rabbits by the cosmetics company Revlon results in Revlon making a $250,000 grant to Rockefeller University to research alternatives to animal experimentation. Several other major cosmetics companies soon follow suit.[20]
1980Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco found People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
1981-1983The Silver Spring monkey controversy begins when Alex Pacheco's undercover investigation of Edward Taub's monkey research laboratory results in Taub's arrest for animal cruelty. Taub is later convicted on six counts of inadequate veterinary care, which is then overturned on the grounds that state animal welfare laws do not apply to federally-funded experiments.[21]
1984Tom Regan publishes The Case for Animal Rights, a highly influential philosophical argument that animals have rights (as opposed to Peter Singer's utilitarian case for animal liberation).[47]
1990PETA and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine end their highly publicized legal battle over the Silver Spring monkeys, failing to gain custody of the animals.[21]
1992Switzerland becomes the first country to include protections for animals in its constitution.[23]
1997The European Union's Protocol on Animal Protection is annexed to the treaty establishing the European Community. The Protocol recognizes animals as "sentient beings" (rather than mere property) and requires countries to pay "full regard to the welfare requirements of animals" when making laws regarding their use.[23]
1998The EU passes the Council Directive 98/58/EC Concerning the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes, which is based on a revised Five Freedoms: freedom from hunger and thirst; from discomfort; from pain, injury, and disease; from fear and distress; and to express normal behavior.[23]
1999Willem van Eelen secures the first patent for in vitro meat.[17]
2000-2009Bans on fur farming are instituted in the United Kingdom, Austria, Netherlands, Switzerland, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.[23][48]
2001The European Court of Justice issues a conservative interpretation of the 1997 Protocol on Animal Protection in the Jippes case, stating that the law did not create new protections for animals but only codified existing ones.[23]
2006Veal crates become illegal in the EU.[23]
2008Spain passes a non-legislative measure to grant non-human primates the right to life, liberty, and freedom from use in experiments. However, this requires further action by the government to become formal law, which has not been taken.[23]
2008California passes a ballot measure requiring that a chicken "be able to extend its limbs fully and turn around freely". This has been described as a ban on battery cages, but battery cages giving 116 square inches per hen are allowed under the law.[49][50]
2011-2016After undercover investigations spark public outrage over animal abuse on industrial farms, several American states introduce "ag-gag" laws in an effort to criminalize such investigations.[51]
2012The EU's ban on battery cages goes into effect.[23]
2012A group of prominent scientists issue the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, which states that “the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.”[52]
2013The EU bans testing cosmetics on animals.[27]
2013The Nonhuman Rights Project files the first-ever lawsuits on behalf of chimpanzees, demanding courts grant them the right to bodily liberty via a writ of habeas corpus.[53] The petitions are denied and the cases move on to appellate courts.[54]
2014India becomes the first country in Asia to ban testing cosmetics on animals as well as imports of animal-tested cosmetics.[55]
2015-2016Following major public backlash prompted by the 2013 film Blackfish, SeaWorld announces it will end its controversial orca shows and breeding program.[56]
2015-2016In the U.S., a number of major egg buyers and producers switch from battery-cage to cage-free eggs.[57][58][59]
2016Cellular agriculture company Memphis Meats announces the creation of the first in vitro meatball.[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "History of Animal Domestication". March 11, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  2. ↑ E. Szűcs; R Geers; E. N. Sossidou; D. M. Broom (November 2012). "Animal Welfare in Different Human Cultures, Traditions and Religious Faiths". Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Science 25 (11): 1499–1506.
  3. 1 2 Nathan Morgan. "The Hidden History of Greco-Roman Vegetarianism". Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Richard R. Sharp. "Ethical Issues in the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Zenjiro Watanabe. "Removal of the Ban on Meat" (PDF). Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Animal Consciousness". Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  7. ↑ Raymond Giraud. "Rousseau and Voltaire: The Enlightenment and Animal Rights". Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Jeremy Bentham. "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation" (PDF). Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Belden C. Lane. "Ravished by Beauty: The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality". Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  10. 1 2 "History of the Movement" (PDF). Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "A History of Antivivisection from the 1800s to the Present: Part 1 (mid-1800s to 1914)". Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  12. 1 2
  13. 1 2 Jonathan Safran Foer (2009). Eating Animals. Little, Brown and Company.
  14. ↑ "A History of Antivivisection from 1800s to Present: Part 2 (1914-1970)". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Animal Rights Movement" (PDF). Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  16. 1 2 3 Benjamin Adams; Jean Larson. "Legislative History of the Animal Welfare Act: Introduction". Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Zuhaib Fayaz Bhat; Hina Fayaz (April 2011). "Prospectus of cultured meat—advancing meat alternatives". Journal of Food Science Technology 48 (2). Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Meat and Animal Feed". Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  19. 1 2 "Peter Singer". Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  20. 1 2 Henry Spira (1985). "Fighting to Win". In Peter Singer. In Defense of Animals. Basil Blackwell. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  21. 1 2 3 Peter Carlson (February 24, 1991). "The Great Silver Spring Monkey Debate". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  22. ↑ Vivian Kuo; Martin Savidge (February 9, 2014). "Months after 'Blackfish' airs, debate over orcas continues". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Nicholas K. Pedersen. "Detailed Discussion of European Animal Welfare Laws 2003 to Present: Explaining the Downturn". Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  24. ↑ Will Potter (2011). Green is the New Red: An Insider's Account of a Social Movement Under Siege. City Lights Publishers.
  25. ↑ Henry Fountain (August 5, 2013). "A Lab-Grown Burger Gets a Taste Test". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  26. 1 2 Hilary Hanson (February 2, 2016). "‘World’s First’ Lab-Grown Meatball Looks Pretty Damn Tasty". Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  27. 1 2 Rebecca Rifkin. "In U.S., More Say Animals Should Have Same Rights as People date=May 18, 2015". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Vegan Diets Become More Popular, More Mainstream". CBS News. January 5, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  29. ↑ Daphne Rousseau (October 22, 2014). "Israel, the promised land for vegans". The Times of Israel. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  30. ↑ "Global Polls Reveal Consumers Worldwide Want an End to Animal Testing for Cosmetics". January 27, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  31. ↑ Ven. S. Dhammika. "The Edicts of King Asoka" (PDF). Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Vivisection - An Ancient History". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  33. 1 2 "Animal Welfare". Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  34. ↑ Hannah Renier. "An Early Vegan: Lewis Gompertz". London Historians. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  35. ↑ "Cruelty to Animals Act 1835". Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  36. 1 2 "History of Vegetarianism: Origins of Some Words". Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  37. ↑ R. B. Freeman. "On the Origin of Species". Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  38. ↑ "The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960". Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  39. ↑ Steven Best (ed.) (2004). Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?. Lantern Books.
  40. ↑ Amy Mosel. "What About Wilbur? Proposing a Federal Statute to Provide Minimum Humane Living Conditions for Farm Animals Raised for Food Production". Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  41. ↑ Richard D. Ryder. "Speciesism Again: the original leaflet" (PDF). Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  42. ↑ Joanne Zurlo; Deborah Rudacille; Alan M. Goldberg. "Animals and Alternatives in Testing: History, Science, and Ethics". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  43. ↑ "Rats, Mice & Birds". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  44. 1 2 "US Domestic Terrorism: Animal Liberation Front". Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  45. ↑ "Animal Rights International: A Historical Note and Tribute to Henry Spira". Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  46. ↑ Barnaby Feder. "Henry Spira, 71, Animal Rights Crusader". Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  47. ↑ Lawrence Finsen; Susan Finsen (1994). The Animal Rights Movement in America: From Compassion to Respect. Twayne Publishers.
  48. ↑ Cecilia Mille; Eva Frejadotter Diesen; Niki Woods (translator). "The best animal welfare in the world? An investigation into the myth about Sweden" (PDF). Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  49. ↑ title=California Proposition 2, Standards for Confining Farm Animals (2008) https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_2,_Standards_for_Confining_Farm_Animals_(2008) title=California Proposition 2, Standards for Confining Farm Animals (2008) Check |url= value (help). Retrieved April 30, 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  50. ↑ Bradley Miller (February 10, 2015). "Flawed ballot measure is coming home to roost". Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  51. ↑ Alicia Prygoski (2015). "Detailed Discussion of Ag-gag Laws". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  52. ↑ "The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness" (PDF). Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  53. ↑ "First-Ever Lawsuits Filed on Behalf of Captive Chimpanzees". Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  54. ↑ Michael Mountain (December 10, 2013). "New York Cases – Judges’ Decisions and Next Steps". Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  55. ↑ Melissa Cronin (October 14, 2014). "This is the First Country in Asia to Ban All Cosmetics Tested on Animals". Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  56. ↑ Brian Clark Howard (March 17, 2016). "SeaWorld to End Controversial Orca Shows and Breeding".
  57. ↑ Eliza Barclay (December 30, 2015). "The Year In Eggs: Everyone's Going Cage-Free, Except Supermarkets". Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  58. ↑ Dan Charles (January 15, 2016). "Most U.S. Egg Producers Are Now Choosing Cage-Free Houses". Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  59. ↑ John Kell (April 5, 2016). "Walmart Is the Latest Retailer to Make a Cage-Free Egg Vow". Retrieved April 24, 2016.
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