The Welfare of Pit Ponies
Concern for animal welfare can be precarious, as the history of Britain’s pit ponies shows.
Britons, we are often told, are an animal-loving people. This comforting national myth has a long pedigree. As far back as 1860 The Times reassured its readers that:
‘Whatever may be our shortcomings as a nation ... we have little to blame ourselves with as far as animals are concerned.’
The widespread support enjoyed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), founded in 1824, was proof enough of how warmly the Victorian public regarded ‘dumb animals’.
If the RSPCA’s latest surveys are any guide, little has changed. Respondents routinely rate animal welfare more highly than human rights, global poverty and child welfare as a cause worthy of their support. Moreover, in the 2023 survey, an impressive 69 per cent self-identified as ‘animal lovers’, with a mere three per cent confessing that they did not like animals.
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