[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 50 (Thursday, April 7, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING THE 145TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE 
                PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (ASPCA)

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 7, 2011

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
organization in my Congressional District that has served this nation 
for more than a century, protecting pets from abuse and helping to make 
America a more humane country. Founded on the belief that animals are 
entitled to kind and respectful treatment and must be protected under 
the law, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 
(ASPCA) is celebrating its landmark 145th anniversary on April 10, 
2011.
  Inspired to take action after witnessing the beating of a work horse 
on a New York City street, Henry Bergh founded the ASPCA in 1866. He 
believed that protecting animals was an issue that crossed party lines 
and class boundaries. He used his gifts of oration to make a commanding 
moral and legal case to protect animals, persuading some of Manhattan's 
most prominent leaders at the time, including members of the 
Rockefeller family and the Mayor of New York City to support him in 
this important fight.
  From the beginning, the ASPCA fought hard to provide care and 
protection for the city's working horses and transform dog pounds into 
professionally run adoptions facilities. And they opened an animal 
hospital which serves New York City to this very day.
  The modern ASPCA also includes a Humane Law Enforcement department, 
which upholds state animal cruelty laws in the five boroughs. Last year 
alone, the ASPCA investigated some 4,000 reported complaints of animal 
cruelty, made 51 arrests, and helped more than 400 animals. With a 90 
percent conviction rate for their animal cruelty investigations, the 
ASPCA is helping to make New York a safer place for both the city's 
residents and animals.
  I am proud to say the ASPCA's Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital is one 
of the largest full-service animal hospitals in New York, with more 
than 24,000 patient visits in 2009, including almost 5,000 emergency 
exams. The hospital's Intensive Care Unit operates 365 days a year. 
This was particularly lucky for Gary, a one year old cat that fell from 
an apartment building window in April of 2010 and was brought to the 
ASPCA's hospital in critical condition, with a life-threatening 
fractured pelvis. The hospital's veterinarians worked tirelessly, 
against all odds, to save Gary. He is alive today thanks to their 
skills.
  My colleagues will find it interesting that Bergh Memorial Animal 
Hospital was an early leader in radiation therapy for cancer in animals 
and, during World War I, ASPCA veterinarians helped care for the horses 
used by the U.S. Army.
  Mr. Speaker, the ASPCA has helped to change the way Americans view 
animals and the tools that are needed to care for them. It led the way 
with a wide variety of innovations from horse ambulances to the 
cardboard boxes that people use to carry home the pets they adopt--
boxes that were devised by an ASPCA shelter clerk.
  Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, nearly 4,000 cats and dogs are saved each 
year when they are adopted from the ASPCA Adoption Center. The state-
of-the-art adoption center was recently renovated and now houses more 
than 300 cats and dogs in accommodations designed to create an 
inviting, appealing space for both pets and people.
  The ASPCA also manages the Animal Poison Control Center, which-
handled more than 167,000 cases of pets exposed to toxic substances 
last year--treating cases that ranged from cats and dogs to horses and 
livestock. Its location in Urbana, Illinois provides the ASPCA with a 
strong presence in the Midwest to complement the New York City 
Headquarters.
  In closing, the ASPCA's founding mission ``to provide effective means 
for the prevention of cruelty to animals'' continues to. resonate today 
some 145 years later, and I am proud to rise today to pay tribute to 
this organization in my district. I hope you will all join me in 
wishing them many good years to come.

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