A demonstration on 19 March 1910 in Trafalgar Square, London, in support of the Brown Dog. The society's banner can be seen on Nelson's Column in the background. | |
| Formation | 1903 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Lizzy Lind af Hageby Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton |
| Dissolved | 1971 |
The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society (ADAVS) was an animal rights advocacy organisation, co-founded in England, in 1903, by Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a Swedish feminist, and Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton.[1]
It was based for many years at Animal Defence House, 15 St James's Place, London, and ran a 237-acre animal sanctuary at Ferne House near Shaftesbury, Dorset, an estate owned by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton.[2]
The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society's executive council included Alice Drakoules who was a lifelong campaigner for animal rights and a keen supporter of the society. She helped the society campaign for licensed slaughterhouses, humane slaughter and for an ended to performing animals.[3]
The society came to widespread attention during the Brown Dog affair (1903–1910), which began when Lind af Hageby infiltrated the vivisection in University College London of a brown terrier dog. The subsequent description of the experiment in her book, The Shambles of Science (1903) – in which she wrote that the dog had been conscious throughout and in pain – led to a protracted scandal and a libel case, which the accused researcher won. The affair continued for several years, making a name both for Lind af Hageby and for the society.[1]
The society was associated with Hageby's International Humanitarian Bureau.[4] It published The Anti-Vivisection and Humanitarian Review in 1929 and Progress Today: The Humanitarian and Anti-Vivisection Review in the 1930s.[4]
Following Lind af Hageby's death in December 1963, the society's assets were transferred to a trust, The Animal Defence Trust, which continues to offer grants for animal-protection projects.[5]
