On June 21, 2023, the New York State Assembly passed legislation carried by Deborah Glick, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Conservation to ban wildlife killing contests in New York State. This bill was passed by the State Senate in early June, carried by Senator Timothy Kennedy. If the legislation is signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul as expected, New York State will become the ninth state to ban wildlife killing contests. [Read more…] about State Legislature Passes Bill Banning Wildlife Killing Contests
animal rights
The Vegetarian Crusade: An American Reform Movement
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Adam Shprintzen, Assistant Professor of History at Marywood University and author of The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921 (University of North Carolina Press, 2013), takes us on a journey through the origins of vegetarianism and the Vegetarian reform movement in the United States. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/044
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A Century Ago: New York’s War on Animals
Beware! Pictured here are your adversaries – the official enemies of the state. Don’t be distracted by the pretty colors, lovely feathers, or furry critters. These are vermin, and citizens are urged to kill them at every opportunity.
The poster, by the way, represents only the top nine targets from a group of notorious killers, presented here alphabetically: bobcat, Cooper’s hawk, crow, English sparrow, goshawk, gray fox, great gray owl, great horned owl, house rat, “hunting” house cat, lynx, porcupine, red fox, red squirrel, sharp-shinned hawk, snowy owl, starling, weasel, and woodchuck. Kingfishers and a number of snakes were later added, and osprey were fair game as well. [Read more…] about A Century Ago: New York’s War on Animals
Early Animal Rights: The Hats For Horses Crusade
If you like horses (and who doesn’t?) and some funny grammatical errors, check out these two sentence segments from regional newspapers. From 1927: “Mounted on his favorite and favored horse wearing a white broad-brimmed hat … ; and from 1980: “Fans hurled confetti at third baseman George Brett, who was atop a horse wearing a grey cowboy hat.” Both excerpts contain misplaced modifiers: it’s a pretty safe bet that neither horse was wearing a hat.
But as silly as it sounds, it’s an idea that was actually once in vogue. About a century ago, many of northern New York’s horses were sporting the latest craze―hats for horses.
In parts of Europe and the West Indies, it had long been a practice for operators of hacks―horse-drawn taxis, carriages, and the like―to bedeck their horses with hats, which minimized the wearing effects of the hot sun during long days of strolling the streets. [Read more…] about Early Animal Rights: The Hats For Horses Crusade