Cat cruelty

Cat cruelty happened in 1946. An alleged case of cat cruelty was reported in the Times of June 22nd 1946. The Times article is particularly interesting as it concerned an Oxford University professor and his wife.

A criminal action was commenced against Professor and Dr. Edward George Liddell a professor of physiology at Oxford University. He was summoned to appear at Oxford Magistrates Court (the first place you go to when you are charged with a crime).

He had been conducting experiments on cats. His premises had been inspected without notice by RSPCA inspectors and 34 cats had been found in very poor condition. Some were emaciated and some had distemper (29 of them). He said all were there to be tested upon. He was testing the drug Sulphamezathine, which he said was being used to treat the distemper. Sulphamezathine is an anti-infective agent used to treat people for a range of conditions. Sulphamezathine is a sulfonamide and one of the first antimicrobial drugs (the beginning of antibiotics). So the intention was to do some good but why was it necessary to cause such suffering to cats?

He must have been charged with cat cruelty. There are many thousands of cases of cat cruelty in organized medical experiments fully approved of by scientists and physicians. These are educated people who driven to success in their field abuse other creature including cats as cats have a similar anatomy to humans. Another case of scientists killing Safari cats in the cause of science can be seen if you click on the link.

Cat cruelty to Home page

Source:

• Times Archive