Mercy

After witnessing the brutal beating of a horse in the streets of Russia and attending a bullfight in Spain, Henry Bergh found his calling: first as a one-man enforcer of animal rights, and later as the founder of the ASPCA, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. His newfound devotion came at a crucial time for animals. In America in the late 1800s, workhorses were often whipped to death and dogs chained to treadmills for work. Animals in slaghterhouses experienced gruesome deaths. They all needed a voice, and that voice was Henry Bergh's.