New Book Review of Ernest Freeberg, A Traitor to His Species: Henry Bergh and the Birth of the Animals Rights Movement, 2020.

Angela Fernandez, “Henry Bergh, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Horse” (21 February 2022) The Journal of Things We Like (Lots).

Angela Fernandez reviews Ernest Freeberg’s 2020 book, A Traitor to His Species: Henry Bergh and the Birth of the Animals Rights Movement. The book details the history of Henry Bergh as he founded the first American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in 1886. The title of the book refers to Bergh as a traitor to humanity, and more so a pest to the population of New York where Bergh conducted his activism. Fernandez highlights how Berg was particularly moved to activism by horses, which were prevalently used by humans in the late 1800s. Fernandez draws a comparison between a flu that spread through North America’s horses in 1872 to the current COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on animals.