By Laura Go;dman From Care2

Did you know that a group of 30 women created the oldest animal shelter in the United States in 1869?

Probably not, and that’s why shelter officials want to make sure those 30 women finally get the credit they deserve for launching the U.S. animal sheltering and adoptions movement.

The shelter has changed its name over the years, from the Women’s Branch of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to the Women’s Humane Society to the Women’s Animal Center. It has also moved from its original location in Philadelphia to a larger, modern facility in Bensalem, Pa., about 18 miles north.

For the 150th anniversary of the shelter’s founding this month, current CEO Catherine Malkemes and Suzanne L. Bush, president of the board of directors, are getting the word out about the amazing achievements of those animal welfare pioneers.

“We wanted to focus on the women because of the history and the fact that these women were so courageous and innovative,” Bush told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Back in the 1860s, the women, led by animal activist Caroline Earle White (who later founded the American Anti-Vivisection Society), were inspired to open a humane shelter in Philadelphia to save stray dogs and cats that were taken to the city pound and then languished there. Some of the pound dogs were subjected to medical experiments by doctors. The women were also appalled by the mistreatment of the city’s carriage horses, who were underfed, beaten and overworked. (How sad that all these years later, dogs continue to be subjected to medical experiments and many carriage horses are still overworked.)

Fifty years before women won the right to vote, these 30 ladies took over the city pound and banned doctors from access to the animals. For the first time in the U.S., homeless dogs and cats were adopted into loving homes. To help the carriage horses, the women held successful fundraisers to provide watering stations around the city. They also established one of the first humane education programs in the country and promoted the importance of reporting animal abuse.

Photo credit: Women‘s Humane Society/YouTube

“These women never got credit for what they did,” Bush told the Inquirer. “I think today people look back and they say, ‘Oh wow, that was nice,’ but they don’t really think about it in terms of, ‘It was more than nice.’”

A century and a half ago, those 30 courageous and compassionate women “had to be relentless and stand up for themselves and stand up for the animals,” Bush said. Thanks to what they started, there are now 3,500 shelters across the U.S., saving millions of lives.

Women’s Animal Center is celebrating its milestone anniversary with a variety of eventsand special projects. April 14, the day the first animal shelter in the U.S. opened its doors 150 years ago, is being designated as “Animal Shelter National Day of Service.” Animal lovers across the country are encouraged to support the lifesaving work of their local shelters with large and small acts of kindness, such as adopting or fostering a pet or volunteering.

To find out more about the Women’s Animal Center and how to help it continue caring for animals, visit its website.

Photo credit: Women’s Humane Society/YouTube

For more on this story go to: https://www.care2.com/causes/the-women-who-created-the-first-us-animal-shelter-get-well-deserved-recognition.html