British pet massacre
{{short description|Mass killing of pets in 1939}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
The British pet massacre was an event in 1939 in which an estimated 750,000{{Cite news |date=2013-10-12 |title=The little-told story of the massive WWII pet cull |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24478532 |access-date=2025-04-09 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} cats and dogs, a quarter of England's pet population, were euthanized due to an aside in a pamphlet noting it as an option for people unable to take their pets with them when evacuating.{{Cite news |url=http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/440244/What-happened-to-Britain-s-pets-during-the-second-World-War |title=What happened to Britain's pets during the second World War |newspaper=Express |author=Clare Campbell |date=31 October 2013}}{{Cite news |last=Passarello |first=Elena |date=2017-04-21 |title=Keep Calm and Kiss the Cat Goodbye: Mass Pet Euthanization Before the Blitz |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/books/review/great-cat-and-dog-massacre-hilda-kean.html |access-date=2024-05-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The incident was recognized as unnecessary almost immediately after it occurred, stemming from social panic over the impending war, social conflicts on the role of pets, and the "black boredom" of people seeking a way to feel like they were contributing to the war effort, rather than any sort of actual necessity.
Background
File:Advice to Animal Owners.jpg
During World War I, abandoned feral pets in London had become a major issue. In 1939, the British government, seeking to avoid a repeat of this, formed the National Air Raid Precautions Animals Committee (NARPAC) to decide what to do with pets before the war broke out. The committee was worried that when people evacuated, they might leave their pets behind. In response to that fear, NARPAC published a pamphlet titled "Advice to Animal Owners." NARPAC's messaging was primarily focused on evacuation, suggesting moving pets from the big cities and into the countryside; but a line at the end noted that "if you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed."{{harvnb|Campbell|2013|loc=Chapter 2}}{{cite book|first1=Hilda|last1=Kean|title=The Great Cat and Dog Massacre: The Real Story of World War Two's Unknown Tragedy|url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo22091014.html|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|series=Animal Lives}}
Incident
When Neville Chamberlain announced on 3 September 1939 that Britain had declared war with Germany, many pet owners took their pets to pet surgery clinics and animal homes to have them put down.{{cite web |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-pets-war-on-hilda-keans-the-great-cat-and-dog-massacre/ |title=The Pets' War: On Hilda Kean's "The Great Cat and Dog Massacre" |work=LA Review of Books |date=30 April 2017 |author=Colin Dickey |access-date=2 August 2023}} Many veterinarian groups such as the PDSA and the RSPCA were against these drastic measures, but their hospitals were still flooded with pet owners in the first few days. PDSA founder Maria Dickin reported: "Our technical officers called upon to perform this unhappy duty will never forget the tragedy of those days."{{cite web |last1=Feeney-Hart |first1=Alison |title=The little-told story of the massive WWII pet cull |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24478532 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=7 September 2021 |date=12 October 2013}} Hilda Kean wrote that lines for London clinics stretched a half mile. The event triggered a shortage of chloroform and a waste management challenge.
The panic that led to the mass-euthanasia was groundless; there was no shortage of supplies, the German bombing was months away, and none of the fears that had led to it were ever realized. Writing in The Great Cat and Dog Massacre, historian Hilda Kean says that the killings were a reaction against previous experiences with feral pets during World War I, but notes that another of the causes of the killings was boredom; the mass-euthenasia provided a way for ordinary citizens to feel like they were doing something to contribute to the war effort.
A year later, when London was bombed in September 1940, even more pet owners rushed to kill their pets. "People were worried about the threat of bombing and food shortages and felt it inappropriate to have the 'luxury' of a pet during wartime".
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, against the trend, managed to feed and care for 145,000 dogs during the course of the war and provided a field in Ilford as a pet cemetery, "where about 500,000 animals were buried, many from the first week of the war".{{cite news |last1=Carter |first1=Marie |title=Remembering the British 'pet holocaust' of World War Two |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/world-war-two-pet-slaughter-death-cats-dogs-a8042026.html |access-date=29 December 2020 |work=The Independent |date=13 November 2017 |language=en}} A famous opponent of pet culling was Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton, a cat lover, who campaigned against the killing and created her own sanctuary in a heated hangar at Ferne.{{harvnb|Campbell|2013|loc=Chapter 6}}
Legacy
In 2017, historian Hilda Kean published a book about the event called The Great Cat and Dog Massacre.
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book |title=Bonzo's War: Animals Under Fire 1939–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FfYIAQAAQBAJ&dq=%22it+really+is+kindest+to+have+them+destroyed.%22&pg=PT32 |last=Campbell |first=Claire |year=2013 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |location=Glasgow, Scotland |isbn=9781472106872}}
{{Animal welfare}}
{{United Kingdom topics}}
{{World War II}}
Category:1939 in the United Kingdom
Category:1939 disasters in the United Kingdom
Category:Animal cruelty incidents
Category:Animal deaths by euthanasia
Category:Food policy in the United Kingdom