Timeline of animal welfare and rights

{{about|animal welfare and rights through history|current animal rights around the world|Animal rights by country or territory}}

This timeline describes major events in the history of animal welfare and animal rights.

Overview

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! Period !! Description

c.14000–1000 BCE

| The domestication of animals began with dogs. From 8500 to 1000 BCE, cats, sheep, goats, cows, pigs, chickens, donkeys, horses, silkworms, camels, bees, ducks, and reindeer were domesticated by various civilizations.{{cite web |url=https://ukwildlife.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/a-history-of-animal-domestication-3/ |title= History of Animal Domestication |date=March 11, 2012 |access-date=April 21, 2016}}

1000 BCE–700 CE

| Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism started teaching ahimsa, nonviolence toward all living beings. Many adherents of these religions began foregoing meat-eating and animal sacrifice, and, in the case of Jainism, taking great precautions to avoid injuring animals. The earliest known reference to the idea of non-violence to animals (pashu-ahimsa), apparently in a moral sense, has been found in the Kapisthala Katha Samhita of the Yajurveda (KapS 31.11), written about the 8th century BCE.{{cite book | last = Tähtinen | first = Unto | title = Ahimsa. Non-Violence in Indian Tradition | date = 1976 | location = London | pages = 2–3 (English translation: Schmidt p. 631) | isbn = 0-09-123340-2 }} Judaism, Christianity, and Islam began less comprehensive in their concern for animals, but included some provisions for humane treatment.{{cite journal |pmc=4093044 |author=E. Szűcs |author2=R Geers |author3=E. N. Sossidou |author4=D. M. Broom |journal= Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences|volume=25 |issue=11 |date=November 2012 |pages=1499–1506 |title=Animal Welfare in Different Human Cultures, Traditions and Religious Faiths |doi=10.5713/ajas.2012.r.02 |pmid=25049508}} A number of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers advocated for vegetarianism and kindness toward animals.{{cite web |url=http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2010/08/the-hidden-history-of-greco-roman-vegetarianism/ |title=The Hidden History of Greco-Roman Vegetarianism |author=Nathan Morgan |date=August 10, 2010 |access-date=April 19, 2016}} The ancient Indian philosopher Thiruvalluvar (between 1st century BCE and 5th century CE) wrote an exclusive chapter on moral vegetarianism in his work Tirukkural, insisting strictly on a plant-based diet, with separate chapters on ahimsa (or non-harming) and non-killing.{{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|title=The smile of Murugan on Tamil literature of South India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VF2VMUoY_okC&pg=PA156|access-date=December 11, 2010|year=1973|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-03591-1|pages=156–}}{{cite book | url=http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0153.pdf | title=Thirukkural English Translation and Commentary | publisher=W.H. Allen, & Co | last = Pope | first = GU | year=1886 | pages=160}} Vivisection for scientific and medical purposes began in ancient Greece.{{cite web |url=https://ori.hhs.gov/education/products/ncstate/biomedical.htm |author=Richard R. Sharp |title=Ethical Issues in the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research |access-date=April 23, 2016}} Under the influence of Buddhism, a ban on meat-eating was instated in Japan.{{cite web |url=http://www.kikkoman.co.jp/kiifc/foodculture/pdf_09/e_002_008.pdf |title=Removal of the Ban on Meat |author=Zenjiro Watanabe |access-date=May 6, 2016}}

1600–1800

| Enlightenment philosophers took up the question of animals and their treatment, some arguing that they were sentient beings who deserved protection.{{cite web |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness-animal/ |title=Animal Consciousness |access-date=April 20, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1392&context=bts |author=Raymond Giraud |title=Rousseau and Voltaire: The Enlightenment and Animal Rights |access-date=April 21, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/bentham1780.pdf |title=An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation |author=Jeremy Bentham |access-date=April 20, 2016}} The first modern animal protection laws were passed in Ireland and the Massachusetts Bay Colony.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMjWLkg01IUC&q=%22act+Against+Plowing+by+the+Tayle+and+Pulling+the+Wooll+off+Living+Sheep%22&pg=PA33 | title=Ravished by Beauty: The Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality |author=Belden C. Lane |access-date=April 19, 2016| isbn=9780199831685 | date=2011-04-21 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}

1800–1914

| British Parliament passed the first national animal protection legislation, and the first animal protection and vegetarian organizations formed in the U.S. and U.K.{{cite web |url=http://worldanimal.net/documents/3_Movement_History.pdf |title=History of the Movement |access-date=April 19, 2016}} The American and British anti-vivisection movements grew in the late 19th century, led by Frances Power Cobbe in Britain and culminating in the Brown Dog affair, then declining sharply thereafter.{{cite web |url=https://brebisnoire.wordpress.com/a-history-of-antivivisection-from-the-1800s-to-the-present-part-i-mid-1800s-to-1914/ |title=A History of Antivivisection from the 1800s to the Present: Part 1 (mid-1800s to 1914) |date=June 10, 2009 |access-date=April 19, 2016}} The Japanese taboo against meat-eating died out under the Meiji Restoration.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

1914–1966

| The use of animals grew tremendously with the beginning of intensive animal agriculture in the 1920s{{cite book |author=Jonathan Safran Foer |title=Eating Animals |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780316069908 |url-access=registration |date=2009 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company|isbn=9780316069908 }} and the increasing role of animal experimentation in science and cosmetics.{{cite web |url=https://brebisnoire.wordpress.com/a-history-of-antivivisection-from-the-1800s-to-the-present-part-ii-1914-1970/ |title=A History of Antivivisection from 1800s to Present: Part 2 (1914-1970) |date=June 10, 2009 |access-date=April 23, 2016}} Media coverage of animal abuses spurred concern over animal welfare in the U.S. and U.K., and helped bring about the first federal animal welfare legislation in the U.S.{{cite web |url=http://www.sonoma.edu/users/w/wallsd/pdf/Animal-Rights-Movement.pdf |title=Animal Rights Movement |access-date=April 20, 2016}}{{cite web |url=https://awic.nal.usda.gov/legislative-history-animal-welfare-act/intro |title=Legislative History of the Animal Welfare Act: Introduction |author=Benjamin Adams |author2=Jean Larson |access-date=April 20, 2016}} The theoretical possibility of in vitro animal products was recognized.{{cite journal |pmc=3551074 |author=Zuhaib Fayaz Bhat |author2=Hina Fayaz |title=Prospectus of cultured meat—advancing meat alternatives |date=April 2011 |journal=Journal of Food Science and Technology |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=125–140 |doi=10.1007/s13197-010-0198-7 }}

1966–

| Consumption of intensively farmed animal products boomed worldwide, with global meat production rising from approximately 78 million tons in 1963 to 308 million tons in 2014.{{cite web |url=http://www.globalagriculture.org/report-topics/meat-and-animal-feed.html |title=Meat and Animal Feed |access-date=April 21, 2013}} In the US and Europe, books, documentaries, and media coverage of controversies surrounding animal cruelty boosted the animal rights and welfare movements,{{cite web |url=http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/01/peter-singer/ |title=Peter Singer |date=January 29, 2007 |access-date=April 21, 2016}}{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/spira01.htm |author=Henry Spira |year=1985 |chapter=Fighting to Win |editor=Peter Singer |title=In Defense of Animals |publisher=Basil Blackwell |access-date=April 21, 2016}}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1991/02/24/the-great-silver-spring-monkey-debate/25d3cc06-49ab-4a3c-afd9-d9eb35a862c3/ |author=Peter Carlson |title=The Great Silver Spring Monkey Debate |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 24, 1991 |access-date=April 21, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/07/us/blackfish-wrap/ |author=Vivian Kuo |author2=Martin Savidge |title= Months after 'Blackfish' airs, debate over orcas continues |website=CNN |date=February 9, 2014 |access-date=April 23, 2016}} while destructive direct actions by groups like the Animal Liberation Front draw public rebuke and government crackdown.{{cite web |url=https://www.animallaw.info/article/detailed-discussion-european-animal-welfare-laws-2003-present-explaining-downturn |author=Nicholas K. Pedersen |title=Detailed Discussion of European Animal Welfare Laws 2003 to Present: Explaining the Downturn |access-date=April 20, 2016}}{{cite book |author=Will Potter |title=Green is the New Red: An Insider's Account of a Social Movement Under Siege |date=2011 |publisher=City Lights Publishers}} Research on in vitro animal products gained traction, resulting in the first in vitro meats.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/science/a-lab-grown-burger-gets-a-taste-test.html |author=Henry Fountain |title=A Lab-Grown Burger Gets a Taste Test |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 5, 2013 |access-date=April 24, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lab-grown-meatball-memphis-meats_us_56b12317e4b04f9b57d7a9b2 |author=Hilary Hanson |title='World's First' Lab-Grown Meatball Looks Pretty Damn Tasty |website=HuffPost |date=February 2, 2016 |access-date=April 24, 2016}} Beginning in the late 1980s, Europe took the lead in animal welfare reform. In the West and some other countries, public interest in animal welfare, animal rights, and plant-based diets increased significantly.{{cite web |url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/183275/say-animals-rights-people.aspx |author=Rebecca Rifkin |title=In U.S., More Say Animals Should Have Same Rights as People |date=May 18, 2015 |access-date=April 23, 2016}}{{cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/vegan-diets-become-more-popular-more-mainstream/ |title=Vegan Diets Become More Popular, More Mainstream |date=January 5, 2011 |newspaper=CBS News |access-date=April 23, 2016}}{{cite news |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-the-promised-land-for-vegans/ |author=Daphne Rousseau |title=Israel, the promised land for vegans |newspaper=The Times of Israel |date=October 22, 2014 |access-date=April 23, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.hsi.org/news/news/2016/01/global_cosmetics_polling_012716.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/ |title=Global Polls Reveal Consumers Worldwide Want an End to Animal Testing for Cosmetics |date=January 27, 2016 |access-date=April 23, 2016}}

Detailed timeline

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! Year !! Event !! Country
or region

c. 530 BCE

| Greek philosopher Pythagoras was the first in a line of several Greek and Roman philosophers to teach that animals had souls, and to advocate for vegetarianism.

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c. 269–c. 232 BCE

| Indian emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism and issued edicts advocating vegetarianism and offering protections to wild and domestic animals.{{cite web |url=http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/edicts-asoka6.pdf |title=The Edicts of King Asoka |author= Ven. S. Dhammika |access-date=April 19, 2016}}

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100s

| Greek medical researcher and philosopher Galen's experiments on live animals helped establish vivisection as a widely used scientific tool.

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675

| Japanese Emperor Tenmu, a devout Buddhist, banned eating meat (with exceptions for fish and wild animals).

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973–1057

| Syrian writer and philosopher Al-Ma'arri at some point in his life stopped using any animal products,Geert Jan van Gelder, Gregor Schoeler, "Introduction", in Abu l-Ala al-Maarri, The Epistle of Forgiveness Or A Pardon to Enter the Garden, Volume 2, New York and London: New York University Press, 2016, xxvii.{{Cite web|date=2016-11-27|title=Al Ma'arri|url=http://www.humanistictexts.org/al_ma%27arri.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127200338/http://www.humanistictexts.org/al_ma%27arri.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-11-27|access-date=2020-11-13}} making him the first documented vegan.

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Early 1600s

| Philosopher and scientist René Descartes argued that animals were machines without feeling, and performed biological experiments on living animals.

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1635

| The Parliament of Ireland passed "An Act against Plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wooll off living Sheep", one of the first known pieces of animal protection legislation.

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1641

| Regulations against "Tirranny or Crueltie" toward domestic animals were included in the Massachusetts Body of Liberties.

Timeline of animal welfare and rights

Overview

Detailed timeline

See also

References