Totheanimalwelfaremovement,too,mustgothecreditfor
startingthefightagainstcrueltytochildren.In 1874 Henry
Bergh,thepioneeroftheAmericananimalwelfaresocieties,
wasaskedtodosomethingaboutalittleanimalwhohadbeen
cruelly beaten.Thelittle animalturnedout tobe a human
child;neverthelessBerghsuccessfullyprosecutedthechild’s
custodianforcrueltytoananimal,underaNewYorkanimal
protection statute that he had drafted and bullied the
legislatureintopassing.Furthercaseswerethenbrought,and
the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children was set up. When thenews reached Britain, the
RSPCAsetupaBritishcounterpart—theNationalSocietyfor
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.^11 Lord Shaftesbury
wasoneofthefoundersofthis group.As aleading social
reformer,authoroftheFactoryActsthatputanendtochild
laborandfourteen-hourworkdays,andanotablecampaigner
against uncontrolled experimentation and other forms of
cruelty to animals, Shaftesbury, like many other
humanitarians, clearlyrefutestheidea thatthose who care
aboutnonhumansdonotcareabouthumans,orthatworking
for one cause makes it impossible to work for the other.
Our conceptions of the nature of nonhuman animals, and
faultyreasoningabouttheimplicationsthatfollowfromour
conception of nature, also help to buttress our speciesist
attitudes.Wehavealwayslikedtothinkourselveslesssavage
thantheotheranimals.Tosaythatpeopleare“humane”isto
saythattheyarekind;tosaythattheyare“beastly,”“brutal,”
orsimplythattheybehave“likeanimals”istosuggestthat
theyarecruelandnasty.Werarelystoptoconsiderthatthe
animalwhokillswiththeleastreasontodosoisthehuman
animal.Wethinkoflionsandwolvesassavagebecausethey
kill;buttheymustkill,orstarve.Humanskillotheranimals