Fashionable Slaughter (1886)

AUTHOR: Bergh, Henry

KEYWORDS: animals, Christian morality, dress reform

SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen)

Bergh condemns the fashion for birds and their feathers as “the first and greatest cause of the enormous destruction of birds,” which “necessitates the killing of at least five millions of small birds annually” (191). Presumed to be the gentle sex, women ironically show more “contempt of life and suffering” than men (except in times of war). For a particularly “unworthy purpose” (women's fashion), the “most harmless and beautiful creations of the Omnipotent are mutilated and slaughtered by the million in the mere spirit of a coquettish vanity” (191).

The “so-called scientific collecting of birds and eggs” is another source of suffering for these animals. Contrary to the scientific claims made for it, the collectors “know nothing of science, and they collect birds and eggs just as they would postage stamps” (191). Bergh reminds his readers that certain species of birds are already “entirely extinct by reason of nest robbery and shooting 'for fun'” (192). He also points out that some countries have already adopted laws against the importation of certain birds in order to protect them. He calls for the US Congress to “creat[e] a new department for the protection of all animals, birds, fish, etc.” or at least for those who do not interfere with “human safety and [...] the interests of the farmer.” Equally, Bergh calls upon the press to encourage the abandonment of “a fashion which is so fruitful of cruelty and wrong toward those beautiful creatures” (192).