It is generally accepted that the attitude of the state and society toward the welfare of children, the elderly, and animals serves as an indicator of a society’s level of civilization. Currently, the animal rights movement is actively developing in Ukraine, and corresponding changes are being made to the legislation. However, the issue of treating animals humanely was quite acute not only now but also in the 19th century. Today’s article will discuss how things stood back then.
Let’s start with the fact that the Society for the Protection of Animals was founded in the territory of what was then the Russian Empire as early as the fall of 1865. Its main goal, according to the organizers, was “to eliminate cruelty toward animals.” Thanks to the society’s efforts, the Charter on Penalties Imposed by Justices of the Peace was amended to include a new article stating that “those guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to animals shall be punished with a fine of up to 10 rubles.” Furthermore, according to the rules, it was prohibited to:
— use sick, injured, or lame animals for work;
— strike animals with hard or sharp objects, or strike them on the head;
— loading an animal with a weight disproportionate to its strength and the condition of the road;
— whipping a horse that had fallen while in harness.
Causing injury to or killing another person’s animals was punishable by imprisonment for up to one month or a fine of up to one hundred rubles.
It should be noted that the first animal rights activists took a very broad approach to the issue of animal protection. For example, rescuing injured animals was rewarded with monetary prizes and medals. In crowded areas, such as near train stations or in marketplaces, members of the society often displayed posters containing information about criminal liability for animal cruelty. They also gave lectures to the public whenever possible.
As a result, during its first ten years of existence, the Society not only achieved a great deal on the legislative front but also gained support among the public.
The organization addressed the following issues:
— eliminating all forms of cruelty toward animals;
— caring for sick animals;
— improving the welfare of draft and riding horses, as well as addressing issues related to their shoeing;
— protection of birds;
— improvement of animal transport conditions;
— prohibition of publicly displaying animals that have been deliberately maimed;
— ban on cockfighting.
And much, much more.
In the summer of 1872, Society member V. E. Terekhov visited Okhtyrka during his trip through various provinces to observe how animals were treated. There, Terekhov began actively promoting “rules for the humane treatment of animals” among the local population. However, in this noble endeavor, he encountered resistance from a Romani man named Ivan Amilevsky, who continued to mercilessly beat his horses with a stick. Naturally, Terekhov demanded that the village constable detain Amilevsky. However, the local police chief (head of the district police in the Russian Empire) did not draw up a report on the matter, and the village constable even released the Romani man on his own authority.
It is noteworthy that around the same time in Okhtyrka, Terekhov brought charges against a woman who, despite his warnings, destroyed a sparrow’s nest and gave the chicks to her son to play with. As a result of this cruel treatment, the local court fined her 2 rubles.
The first proposal to open a branch of the Society for the Protection of Animals in Kharkiv was submitted to the Board by our fellow townspeople as early as 1875. However, it was not until October 4, 1880, that a branch of the animal welfare organization was officially opened in our beloved city. The main credit for this goes to Professor Pyotr Andreevich Gordeev of the Kharkiv Veterinary Institute, who had been an active member of this society while still in St. Petersburg. It is not surprising that, after moving to our city in 1880, Gordeev devoted all his efforts to establishing a branch of the organization in Kharkiv. He went on to serve as its vice-chairman for many years.
The following individuals also played an active role and provided support in this matter:
— Kharkiv Governor Pyotr Apollonovich Gresser. Thanks to him, police officials were made aware of the Society’s rules, which had been approved by the Minister of the Interior, and numerous police orders were issued regarding the improvement of animal welfare and support for animal rights activists.
— Mrs. Zvigintseva, a merchant’s wife, who made her home on Rozhdestvenskaya Street available for meetings.
As well as many other wealthy and prominent citizens, who were apparently struck by the words published by the board members in the pages of the newspaper *Kharkiv Provincial Gazette*:
Do not add to your own anguish by watching the torment of the defenseless creatures under your control; do not be cruel to them, and join the ranks of that society which strives to provide even a small measure of protection and shelter to these creatures as well.
In 1882, V. K. Weyerberg, P. A. Gordeev, and G. Yakushevich attended the first convention of the Society for the Protection of Animals on behalf of the Kharkiv branch.
The most important resolutions of that convention were:
1) Drafting the Company’s new bylaws.
2) Holding the second convention in 1884 in Kharkiv.
However, for a number of reasons, this event in our beloved city, alas, never took place. The first 10 to 12 years in the history of Kharkiv’s animal rights activists were, without exaggeration, remarkable.
Almost immediately, the Society’s Board drew attention to the truly outrageous methods of capturing and culling stray dogs in Kharkiv that were being practiced at the time. The rules developed by the Society’s members were submitted to the City Council with a request to take measures to improve the method of culling and to eliminate the atrocities that were constantly being committed by the catchers in full view of the public during the roundups. As a result, effective April 1, 1882, the task of catching stray dogs was transferred to the Society’s department. The City Council also gave its full consent to the establishment of a shelter in our city for lost pets and allocated a portion of the funds. And Prince D. I. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, an honorary member of the department, donated 200 rubles to this cause.
In the reports of the Kharkiv Society on this topic, we read the following:
At first, due to a lack of all the necessary equipment—a van, dog-catching gear, and a shelter for the dogs— the Board deemed it more convenient to temporarily delegate the capture and extermination of stray dogs to a contractor, while entrusting daily supervision to one of the members of the Board. To ensure the matter was handled in the best possible way, the Board corresponded on this subject with all the societies, and a special commission was formed to test various methods of catching dogs, with the method of catching them using “long tongs with leather pads at the ends” being deemed the best. Upon completion of the shelter’s construction, after purchasing all the necessary equipment and hiring staff, the Board took over this matter from the contractors and, as of September 1, began managing it directly. The method of euthanizing the dogs—the least painful one—was changed by the Board several times. Initially, poison was used, as practiced by the Odesa Society, but it was subsequently determined that the least painful method was death by hanging, as recognized by the Warsaw Branch, the Paris Society, and other similar organizations.
They also tried to improve the horses’ living conditions:
…attention was drawn to the conditions under which horses were kept in homes and yards; in this regard, members of the staff—veterinarians—with the assistance of the police found quite a few horses that were sick, maimed, or unfit for work. With the assistance of Vice Chairman A. Gordeev, the sick animals received treatment at the clinics of the Veterinary Institute (free of charge for the poor). Attention was also drawn to improving the welfare of horses belonging to the horse-drawn railway, and measures were developed to eliminate the instances of cruelty that had been observed. Further inspections revealed, however, that the situation had not improved, which is why the Department’s Board submitted a report to the Director; this resulted in the dismissal of the entire former railway administration, the removal of sick and emaciated horses from service, and a change in the feeding regimen itself.
At the initiative and insistence of Petr Andreevich Gordeev, vice-chairman of the Kharkiv Society, attention was also drawn to the cruel methods of slaughtering livestock at Kharkiv’s municipal slaughterhouses. Animal rights activists in our city appealed to the governor and the Kharkiv City Council with a request to improve slaughter methods. Professor Gordeev’s statement listed measures to eliminate the existing abuses at the slaughterhouses. Subsequently, based on this, the governor instructed the police chief as follows:
a) When slaughtering cattle, do not drive them in groups; instead, bring them in one at a time.
b) Pigs shall be slaughtered in such a way that animals intended for slaughter are tied up beforehand.
c) Slaughterhouse operators shall be required to grant unrestricted access to members of the Society for the Protection of Animals.
d) To draw up reports on cruelty to animals, police officers must immediately respond to invitations from members of the Society, as well as be present during their inspections of slaughterhouses and, if necessary, provide lawful assistance.
Members of the society also took measures to prevent cruelty to poultry during its sale at markets, as well as to combat hunting during the off-season.
In an effort to promote the idea of treating animals humanely among the general public, members of the Kharkiv chapter were able to secure support from the church as well:
…through a decree issued by the Diocesan Bishop regarding sermons to the people and the publication of an appeal for support of the Society’s goals in the local Diocesan Gazette for the year 1881. An annual prize of 100 rubles was also announced for the best popular brochure promoting animal welfare, as reported in local newspapers as well as in the newspaper *Golos*…
However, despite these excellent results, the Kharkiv branch’s greatest achievement was, perhaps, the opening of an outpatient clinic for animals. As early as 1882, at the initiative of board member T. P. Kondratyev, a fundraising campaign was launched to collect donations for its establishment. But since the necessary amount could not be raised quickly, the organization’s leadership turned to veterinarians with a request: would any of them be willing to take in sick animals at their homes for free treatment? Three of them agreed to do so in our city. With the meager funds raised, it was decided in 1883 to open an outpatient clinic in the organization’s own building, providing free medication to poor pet owners.
During the first 10 years of the organization’s existence, 39 people were prosecuted for animal cruelty.
Although the Society had branches in many cities throughout the country, the Kharkiv branch was the only one that owned real estate, consisting of “a courtyard covering an area of about a desatina and various structures, which, among other things, house: a clinic, an office, and the doctor’s apartment, an apartment for two employees, and a dog shelter.” In 1888, major renovations were carried out, and nine large barns were built, seven of which were provided to cab drivers as stables capable of comfortably accommodating up to 60 horses. A new five-room wing and a new dog kennel were also built, and the old premises were renovated.” All of this was extremely expensive. The cost of the house was about 14,000 rubles. By 1890, the Kharkiv branch’s debts had already reached 8,000 rubles, even though revenue in 1889 was 2,096 rubles and expenses were 2,561 rubles.
In late 1893, representatives of the Kharkiv branch approached the organization’s central leadership with a request for an interest-free loan of 800 rubles:
Due to a series of adverse circumstances, the Kharkiv branch—which had its own building housing both the Board and the infirmary— was unable to pay interest on a loan from the Kharkiv Land Bank, which consequently put the Branch’s property up for sale at auction. After reviewing the Branch’s request for a loan, the General Assembly deemed it impossible to grant the request due to a lack of available funds; moreover, borrowing from the inviolable capital could not be permitted in the absence of sufficient guarantees for the repayment of the loan. At the same time, the General Meeting also noted the fact that the Kharkiv Branch not only failed to seek the Society’s permission to acquire real estate by mortgaging it to a bank, but had also failed to submit a report in recent years—a report it had not submitted even when applying for a loan…
To a large extent, the financial crisis at Kharkiv’s first animal welfare organization was also caused by the fact that, despite initial enthusiasm, the number of members was rapidly declining. Once thriving, the Kharkiv chapter is now in decline due to a lack of support from the local population and is on the verge of closing.
In the early 20th century, members of the Society for the Protection of Animals could still be found at meetings of the Kharkiv Carriage Commission, discussing the results of inspections of the city’s horses. To raise much-needed funds, various festivities featuring fireworks, dancing, and raffles were organized in the University Garden. The Kharkiv Society also opened a special blacksmith shop on Staromoskovskaya Street.
However, when in 1913, in Kharkiv, in full view of everyone, cab drivers continued to mistreat their horses despite police intervention, journalists from our city merely noted with sadness in their report: “The Society for the Protection of Animals in Kharkiv is a myth”…
