[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 40 (Monday, April 3, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN RECOGNITION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY TO PREVENT CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ON 
                 THE OCCASION OF ITS 140TH ANNIVERSARY

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                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 3, 2006

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the American 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This august 
institution is celebrating its 140th anniversary this month, and all 
Americans should salute its remarkable success as the first 
organization dedicated to the protection of animals in the Western 
Hemisphere.
  Over the course of the last 140 years, the American Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA, has helped change the way 
Americans think about animals. The society came into being on April 10, 
1866 when its founder, the diplomat and philanthropist Henry Bergh, 
succeeded in securing it a charter from the New York State Legislature. 
Just 9 days later, Mr. Bergh and his colleagues from the ASPCA 
convinced the legislature to pass a new law preventing acts of cruelty 
to animals and giving the society the power to enforce it. This burst 
of activism succeeded in focusing public attention on the plight of 
animals throughout the United States, and its activities helped spawn 
similar efforts across the Nation.
  Headquartered on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the American Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has expanded its services over 
the decades to encompass a humane education program and a government 
affairs initiative that lobbies for the enactment of laws to provide 
better protections to animals. The ASPCA provided the city of New York 
with animal control services for a century, rescuing countless animals 
in its ambulances, providing them with medical care in its clinics, and 
sheltering and placing them in new homes whenever possible. The 
society's humane approach to law enforcement established a model that 
has been adopted by cities, towns, and villages across the United 
States.
  Today, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 
is one of the largest humane societies in the world. Its New York City 
headquarters house an animal hospital, shelter, and adoption center. 
Law enforcement officers for the American Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals continue to serve as the primary enforcers of anti-
cruelty statutes in our Nation's greatest metropolis.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that my distinguished colleagues join me 
recognizing the enormous contributions to the well-being of both 
animals and humans made by the American Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals.

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