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 The
Humane Society
of the United States
AT THE WORLD'S FAIR
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Left to right: Nicky,
Mr. Phifer, Mr. Amory, Donna, Lady Guinevere, Jester, Mrs. D'Essen,
Ryda, Sir Llancelot (two l's) and Morgan.
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THE GROUND FLOOR -
THE BETTER LIVING CENTER
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What
is a Humane Society?
- The dictionary defines "humane"
as "having what are considered the best qualities of mankind."
And first among these qualities is, of course, an actual part
of the word "mankind" - the word "kind."
A humane Society wants, in short, not just human beings, but
humane beings.
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- The Humane Society of the
Unites States, or HSUS, as it is known, was organized as recently
as 1952. Yet in less than a score of years it has grown to be
the largest national Society in the world for the prevention
of cruelty to animals. There are local SPCA's all over the country,
but they are independent organizations and are even independent
of the "American" SPCA, which is a New York organization
only. The HSUS, in contrast, has either branches and affiliates
or members in every state in the Union and more importantly,
it also works closely with all humane societies, whether
they are HSUS affiliated or not, and whether the job consists
of rescuing an individual stray, reorganizing a whole shelter
operation, policing a rodeo or circus, or sponsoring legislation
such as the Federal Humane Slaughter Act of 1958.
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- Today, any humane Society
worthy of the name realizes that while we are, on the one hand,
in the midst of the greatest pet boom in history, we are also,
on the other hand, living in a sad and dwindling world for wildlife
and a world which is, through neglect and surplus breeding, a
terrifyingly inhumane one for literally millions of unwanted
dogs and cats. Spaying bills are essential - so, too, because
so many state anti-cruelty laws specifically exempt laboratories,
is a federal bill to protect laboratory animals. On this subject,
between the anti-vivisectionists, who believe with religious
fervor that there should be no use of animals for experimentation,
and today's "research unlimited" which believes, with
equal fervor, in every conceivable experimental use, a middle-ground
can and must e found - for the use of animals but not their abuse.
This middle-ground must establish ground rules and foul lines
whereby genuine necessary research can proceed unimpeded, and
yet whereby the 300,000,000 animals in our laboratories will
be protected every step of the way - from unjust pound seizure
and unscrupulous dog dealers to unnecessary cruelty and needless
repetition of experiments in grant-happy institutions.
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- Finally, a humane Society
worthy of the name is not just for animals for animals
- it is for animals for people. While it believes that
the least cruelty to the least creature diminishes us all, it
is a resolute in its opposition to cruelty to children and mob
violence as it is to bullfighting and steel traps. And, looking
to the future, it seeks to enlist a whole new generation of humane
beings - who may be discovering for the first time a broad-scale
charity in which they themselves can play a meaningful role and
through which they may spearhead, on a broad front, an all-out
assault on today's age of violence.
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CLEVELAND
AMORY
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| The Exhibits |
- 1 The Peaceable Kingdom
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- A living illustration, in
a living-room, of what mutual understanding and respect have
accomplished when more than a score of highly individual animals
and humans have learned to live together - a United Nations of
Nature.
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- 2 The Barnyard Nursery
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- A re-creation of an old-=fashioned
farmyard in which one sees the beginning of the educational relationships
so essential to harmonious living - in these days perhaps even
more than then.
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- 3 The "Pan-Humanitarian"
Room
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- A room dedicated to the concept
of unity, and the areas of basic agreement, among humane organizations
- from the Mass. SPCA to the Florida Federation of Humane Societies,
from the National Catholic Society for Animal Welfare to the
Animal Welfare Institute, from the Wayside Waifs to the Defenders
of Wildlife.
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- 4 The Seeing Eye - "Gateway
to Freedom"
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- One of the famed Seeing Eye
Dogs and her litter of pups, together with a visual presentation
demonstrating not only how Seeing Eye Dogs are trained but also
how their owners are trained to work with them.
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- 5 The Workshop
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- This reconstruction of an
early colonial kitchen emphasizes the fact that sheep are the
second oldest species domesticated by man, preceded only by the
dog, and demonstrates that lambs, frequently brought into the
kitchen immediately after birth, became, because of the close
association with the farm family, the outstanding family pet
of early America.
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- 6 The Rumpus Room
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- In this "play room"
a dozen or more puppies and kittens illustrate that, with an
animal as with a child, attention and affection during infancy
are as important as food itself.
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- 7 Milady's Boudoir
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- In a lady's dressing room,
a white peacock, a native of Nepal, where it is a capital offense
to kill one, and a blue peacock, a native of the lowland of India,
together illustrate, by their beauty alone, why for centuries
Orientals have held them in more esteem than any other animal.
The American Golden Eagle, the symbol of the U.S.A., is in contrast,
the most graphic illustration of the unity of power and beauty.
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- 8 The Den
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- Once the inhabiters of more
of the world than any other form of wildlife, the wolf is today,
through man's constant and now needless persecution, facing extinction.
His only future, like that of his friend the coyote, may be,
as these are, as a personal pet. And what more could a man want
in his study - a wolf and a pretty girl?
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- I THINK
I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained;
- I stand and look at them long and long,
- They do not sweat and whine about their
condition;
- They do not lie awake in the dark and
weep for their sins;
- They do not make me sick discussing their
duty to God.
- Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented
with the mania of owning things.
- Not one kneels to another, nor to his
kind that lived thousands of years ago.
- Not one is respectable or industrious
over the whole earth
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- Walt Whitman
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Leaves of Grass
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