Henry Bergh was 53 when he founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in 1866, after witnessing the harsh treatment of horses by teamsters in Tsarist Russia. Eight years later, the wealthy New Yorker also helped found the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC). When Bergh died in 1888, at age 75, 39 states had enacted laws against animal cruelty. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.
Appalled by the harsh treatment of horses, Henry Bergh devoted his life to preventing cruelty to animals
Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
