From time to time, we are asked if we only employ women or only accept female animals. We actually like men and male animals and don’t discriminate in accepting male animals or employees.
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We do have a unique name, one that speaks to our long history in the animal welfare movement. Our founder, Caroline Earle White, helped to start the Pennsylvania SPCA in 1867, but was not invited to serve on the organization’s board because she had the misfortune to be born female during a time when only when men were thought to have ideas worthy of consideration.
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The president of the Pennsylvania SPCA knew that Mrs. White was a capable, energetic proponent of the animal welfare movement and suggested that she start her own SPCA. That organization, formed in 1869, was called the Women’s Branch of the Pennsylvania SPCA and soon took over animal control for the City of Philadelphia . The women’s organization operated independently from the start and was responsible for a number of ground-breaking moments in animal welfare history.
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Under Mrs. White’s leadership, the Society became the first organization to offer unwanted animals for adoption, stopped the clubbing of stray dogs, started one of the first humane education programs in the country, worked to promote humane treatment of horses and cattle, fought against the use of animals in medical research and lobbied Congress to change laws regulating the transport of cattle. Our organization’s name was later changed to the Women’s Pennsylvania SPCA and finally to the Women’s Humane Society.
