The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society (ADAVS), also known as the Animal Defence Society was an

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

organisation, co-founded in England, in 1906, by

Lizzy Lind af Hageby Emilie Augusta Louise "Lizzy" Lind af Hageby (20 September 1878 – 26 December 1963) was a Swedish-British feminist and animal rights advocate who became a prominent anti-vivisection activist in England in the early 20th century. Born t ...

, and

Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton Nina Mary Benita Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton (née Nina Mary Benita Poore; 13 May 1878 – 12 January 1951) was a British peeress and animal welfare activist. She campaigned for humane slaughter. Early life Douglas-Hamilton was born ...

. The objective of the Society was a "Consistent Opposition to all forms of Cruelty to Animals and Abolition of Vivisection". The Society was known for its support of humane slaughter. The Society's assets were transferred to a charity, The Animal Defence Trust that was registered in 1971.

History

It was based for many years at Animal Defence House, 15

St James's Place St James's Place is a street in the St James's district of London near Green Park. It was first developed around 1694, the historian John Strype describing it in 1720 as a "good Street ... which receiveth a fresh Air out of the Park; the House ...

, London, and ran a 237-acre animal sanctuary at Ferne House near Shaftesbury, Dorset, an estate owned by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton. An early member of the Society's executive council was Alice Drakoules who was a lifelong campaigner for animal welfare and a keen supporter of the Society. She helped the Society campaign for humane slaughter, licensed slaughterhouses and for an end to performing animals. The Society came to widespread attention during the

Brown Dog affair The Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Britain from 1903 until 1910. It involved the infiltration of University of London medical lectures by Swedish feminists, battles between medical students and the ...

(1903–1910), which began when Lind af Hageby infiltrated the

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for Animal test ...

in University College London of a brown terrier dog. The subsequent description of the experiment in her book, ''The Shambles of Science'' (1903) – in which she wrote that the dog had been conscious throughout and in pain – led to a protracted scandal and a libel case, which the accused researcher won. The affair continued for several years, making a name both for Lind af Hageby and for the Society. The Society was associated with Hageby's International Humanitarian Bureau."The International Humanitarian Bureau"
lonsea.de. Retrieved 14 January 2022. It published ''The Anti-Vivisection and Humanitarian Review'' in 1929 and ''Progress Today: The Humanitarian and Anti-Vivisection Review'' in the 1930s. In 1933, members of the Society's executive council included

Sara Blomfield Sara Louisa Blomfield (; 1859 – 1939) was an Irish humanitarian and early member of the Baháʼí Faith in the British Isles, and a supporter of the rights of children and women.

Charlotte Despard Charlotte Despard (née French; 15 June 1844 – 10 November 1939) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, the Women's Pe ...

, Douglas S. S. Steuart and

Janette Ranken Thesiger Janette Mary Fernie Ranken (married name Thesiger) (16 December 1877 – 21 May 1970) was an English actress who worked under the name of Juliet Hardinge. She was the wife of actor Ernest Thesiger and sister of the painter William Bruce Ellis Ra ...

. In 1959, the Society protested against a mass pigeon shoot throughout the East of England the Midlands. NC State University Libraries holds a large collection of pamphlets from the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society.

Slaughter reform

Despite supporting total abolition of vivisection the Society advocated reform of

animal slaughter Animal slaughter is the killing of animals, usually referring to killing Domestication, domestic livestock. It is estimated that each year, 80 billion land animals are slaughtered for food. Most animals are slaughtered for Human food, food; how ...

. The Society called for legislation making humane slaughter compulsory. The Society advertised its own "humane killer" for sale, a type of

captive bolt pistol A captive bolt pistol (also known as a captive bolt gun, a cattle gun, a stunbolt gun, a bolt gun, a stun gun and a stunner) is a device used for the stunning of animals prior to slaughter. A captive bolt pistol is intended to deliver a single ...

. In 1923, the Society advocated a statement of minimum slaughter reform that was sent to the Cabinet Committee. Their proposal was that local authorities should be under obligation to approve only types of human killers for use in the slaughterhouse within their districts and that inspectors should be allowed to enter the slaughterhouse to enforce the Act. They urged that all slaughtermen should be licensed and that any other method of killing animals for food should be prohibited. The Society opposed the use of the knife and

poleaxe The poleaxe (also poleax, pollaxe and other similar spellings) is a European polearm that was used by medieval infantry. Etymology Most etymological authorities consider the ''poll''- prefix historically unrelated to "pole", instead meaning " ...

in slaughter. Lizzy Lind af Hageby and Duchess Nina Douglas-Hamilton both visited

slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...

s and tested the "humane killer" and criticized the cruelty of the poleaxe. In 1924, a report they signed had found that a pig had to be hit four times on the head before it was rendered unconscious and that the humane killer rendered twenty animals unconscious by the first shot. In 1925, it was reported that the Duchess of Hamilton had witnessed 52 animals being slaughtered in a single afternoon in pursuance of the statutory use of the humane killer. The Society supported the Slaughter of Animals Act 1933. The humane killer gained support from slaughterhouse workers. John Dodds, superintendent of the Carlisle abattoir became an expert adviser to the Society in their campaign for compulsory use of the humane killer. The Society's Slaughter Reform Department consisted of John Dodds and Constance Warner. In 1937, the Society organized an exhibition in London with demonstrations of humane killers. In 1939, the Society angered the poultry industry by campaigning against the use of

battery cage Battery cages are a housing system used by factory farms for various animal production methods, but primarily for egg-laying hens. The name arises from the arrangement of rows and columns of identical cages connected, in a unit, as in an artill ...

hens. The Society stated that the hens are imprisoned in the battery system in a confined space with no contact with fresh air and grass.

Model Humane Abattoir

The Society campaigned for the abolition of private slaughterhouses and the creation of humanely-conducted public abattoirs. In 1929, the Society opened the "Model Humane Abattoir" in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...

. The building was owned by the Society and was used to demonstrate humane slaughter and hygienic treatment of meat. It was designed by R. Stephen Ayling between 1925 and 1926. The humane model abattoir was built on a site covering two acres and planned to deal with 20,000 animals a year. The site contained a slaughter hall, lairs, cooling hall for cattle, general loading stage, chill rooms, engine room, a large lecture theatre and a veterinary inspection area. The Society also planned to build a bacon factory in which pigs were shot with the humane killer. The model humane abattoir gained support from the National Council for Animals' Welfare. The Society stated that the meat from the abattoir was to sold by their own company. Duchess Nina Douglas-Hamilton was a vegetarian in her personal life but in 1928 became the head of a humane butcher's shop.

The Animal Defence Trust

Following Lind af Hageby's death in December 1963, the Society's assets were transferred to a trust, The Animal Defence Trust, which continues to offer grants for animal-protection projects. The Animal Defence Trust registered as a charity in 1971. It describes itself as a "charity whose main aims are the welfare of animals and protection of them from cruelty and suffering, the promotion of research to discover ways of reducing the use of animals in scientific research, and the establishment of inspections of animal transportation to ensure proper and humane accommodation".

Selected publications

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History

Slaughter reform

Model Humane Abattoir

The Animal Defence Trust

Selected publications

See also

References

Further reading