View source for British pet massacre

{{short description|Mass killing of pets in 1939}}
{{EngvarB|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
The '''British pet massacre''' was a week-long event in 1939 in which an estimated 400,000 cats and dogs, a quarter of England's pet population, were killed so that food used for animals could be reserved to prepare for [[World War II]] food shortages.<ref name="Express">{{Cite news |url=http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/440244/What-happened-to-Britain-s-pets-during-the-second-World-War |title=What happened to Britain's pets during the second World War |newspaper=Express |author=Clare Campbell |date=31 October 2013}}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |last=Passarello |first=Elena |date=2017-04-21 |title=Keep Calm and Kiss the Cat Goodbye: Mass Pet Euthanization Before the Blitz |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/books/review/great-cat-and-dog-massacre-hilda-kean.html |access-date=2024-05-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Background==
[[File:Advice to Animal Owners.jpg|thumb|Advice to animal owners]]
In 1939, the British government formed the [[Air Raid Precautions|National Air Raid Precautions Animals Committee]] (NARPAC) to decide what to do with pets before the war broke out. The committee was worried that when the government would need to ration food, owners would decide to split their rations with their pets or leave the animals to starve. In response to that fear, NARPAC published a pamphlet titled "Advice to Animal Owners." The pamphlet suggested moving pets from the big cities and into the countryside. It concluded with the statement that "If you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed."<ref>{{harvnb|Campbell|2013|loc=Chapter 2}}</ref> The pamphlet also contained an advertisement for a [[captive bolt pistol]] that could be used to kill the animals humanely.

==Incident==
When [[Neville Chamberlain]] announced on 3 September 1939 that Britain had declared war with Germany, many pet owners took their pets to pet surgery clinics and animal homes to have them put down.<ref name="2LARofBs">{{cite web |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-pets-war-on-hilda-keans-the-great-cat-and-dog-massacre/ |title=The Pets' War: On Hilda Kean's "The Great Cat and Dog Massacre" |work=LA Review of Books |date=30 April 2017 |author=Colin Dickey |access-date=2 August 2023}}</ref> Many veterinarian groups such as the [[People's Dispensary for Sick Animals|PDSA]] and the [[RSPCA]] were against these drastic measures, but their hospitals were still flooded with pet owners in the first few days. PDSA founder [[Maria Dickin]] reported: "Our technical officers called upon to perform this unhappy duty will never forget the tragedy of those days."<ref name="bbc2013">{{cite web |last1=Feeney-Hart |first1=Alison |title=The little-told story of the massive WWII pet cull |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24478532 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=7 September 2021 |date=12 October 2013}}</ref> [[Hilda Kean]] wrote that lines for London clinics stretched a half mile. The event triggered a shortage of [[chloroform]] and a waste management challenge.<ref name="NYT" /> 

A year later, when [[The Blitz|London was bombed]] in September 1940, even more pet owners rushed to kill their pets. "People were worried about the threat of bombing and food shortages and felt it inappropriate to have the 'luxury' of a pet during wartime".<ref name="bbc2013"/>

[[Battersea Dogs & Cats Home]], against the trend, managed to feed and care for 145,000 dogs during the course of the war and provided a field in Ilford as a [[Ilford Animal Cemetery|pet cemetery]], "where about 500,000 animals were buried, many from the first week of the war".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Carter |first1=Marie |title=Remembering the British 'pet holocaust' of World War Two |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/world-war-two-pet-slaughter-death-cats-dogs-a8042026.html |access-date=29 December 2020 |work=The Independent |date=13 November 2017 |language=en}}</ref> A famous opponent of pet culling was [[Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton]], a cat lover, who campaigned against the killing and created her own [[Ferne Animal Sanctuary|sanctuary]] in a heated hangar at [[Ferne House#Second house|Ferne]].<ref name="bbc2013"/><ref>{{harvnb|Campbell|2013|loc=Chapter 6}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
In 2017, historian [[Hilda Kean]] published a book about the event called ''[[The Great Cat and Dog Massacre]].''<ref name="2LARofBs" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |title=Bonzo's War: Animals Under Fire 1939–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FfYIAQAAQBAJ&dq=%22it+really+is+kindest+to+have+them+destroyed.%22&pg=PT32 |last=Campbell |first=Claire |year=2013 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |location=Glasgow, Scotland |isbn=9781472106872}}

{{Animal welfare}}
{{United Kingdom topics}}
{{World War II}}

[[Category:1939 in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1939 disasters in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1939 animal deaths]]
[[Category:Animal cruelty incidents]]
[[Category:Animal deaths by euthanasia]]
[[Category:Animal welfare and rights in the United Kingdom|Pet massacre]]
[[Category:Food policy in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Pets in the United Kingdom|Massacre]]
[[Category:United Kingdom home front during World War II]]
[[Category:September 1939 events in the United Kingdom]]