Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, April 11, 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

was founded by a man named Henry Berg.

We are going to refer to it as the ASPCA from here on out.

Berg had visited Britain's Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals.

And you know, you can kind of think of this moment as a bit of a culmination of a big evolution of ideas around the treatment of animals, both in the commercial sphere, animals being used as labor, and in the domestic sphere animals as companions and pets.

Over the course of the 19th century there was a growing understanding and debate an argument

that the way we treat animals is a reflection of larger societal questions about morality,

labor, and so forth.

It is really fascinating stuff,

and we also get to talk about animals on the show.

So here to do that is, as always,

Nicole Hammer of Columbia and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello.

Hello, Jody.

Hey there.

And as we were putting together this segment,

we thought to us, we should get someone who just really loves dogs.

And who is like a well known dog lover and our special

guest and Helen Peterson came to mind she's an amazing author of many things

including a new newsletter called Culture Study which I subscribe to and is

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