Animals, Cruelty To

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cruelty to animals, willful or wanton infliction of pain, suffering, or death upon an animal or the intentional or malicious neglect of an animal. Perhaps the world’s first anticruelty law, which addressed the treatment of domesticated animals, was included in the legal code of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1641); similar legislation was passed in Britain in 1822. The world’s first animal welfare society, the Society for the Protection of Animals, was established in England in 1824; the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was chartered in 1866. In varying degrees, cruelty to animals is illegal in most countries, and interest in endangered species gave further impetus to the anticruelty movement in the late 20th century. Reflecting such interest, many laws have been passed, though they are seldom enforced unless public pressure is brought to bear. Acts targeted by the movement have ranged from the mistreatment of domesticated animals to bullfighting and vivisection. Factory farming, which involves various evidently cruel practices, has remained largely exempt from legal scrutiny. See also animal rights.