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| PET GAZETTE WW2 PET MASSACRE
BRITAIN’S SECRET WW2
PET MASSACRE
Under the shadow of war over 750,000 of Britain’s pets were killed in one week
as a result of a public information campaign
I
n 1939, the British
government formed the
National Air Raid Precautions
Animals Committee
(NARPAC) to decide what
would happen to the many pets living in
the country’s cities in the event of an air
raid. The NARPAC’s main concern was that
pets would use up valuable meat and other
food supplies which were rationed. The
committee’s first idea was that all animals
would be moved into the countryside,
however that came with the sinister
instruction that “if you cannot place them in
the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to
have them destroyed”. Quite conveniently,
on the reverse of the NARPAC leaflet
www.petgazette.biz
featured an advert for a captive bolt pistol,
that could be used to ‘humanely’ “destroy”
your pet.
Even at the time the NARPAC faced a
strong resistance from groups including
the Battersea Dogs’ and Cats’ Home, which
fed and housed over 145,000 dogs during
the course of the war; royalty was also
against the idea, in the form of the Duchess
of Hamilton. As a cat-lover and owner, the
duchess campaigned against the idea of
killing pets and even created her own cat
sanctuary in a heated hanger at Ferne
House in Wiltshire. Veterinarian groups such
as the RSPCA and PDSA were also against
the measures - however should the call of
war arise it would be their surgeons who
would be required to euthanise a great
number of animals.
When war was officially declared
thousands rushed to the surgeries of the
PDSA and RSPCA, with waiting rooms
described as “flooded”. At the PDSA
founder Maria Dickin said of the events “our
technical officers called upon to perform this
unhappy duty will never forget the tragedy of
those days”. Yet more pets were brought to
the vets for euthanasia in 1940 after London
suffered the blitz, Pip Dodd, curator at
National Army Museum, explained the mass
killings by saying “people were worried
about the threat of bombing and food
shortages, and felt it inappropriate to have
the ‘luxury’ of a pet during wartime”.
Estimates say over 750,000 pets died
as a result of the wartime euthanasia and
it is said that many owners who took the
decision to have their pet killed regretted
it after getting over fears of bombings and
food shortages. They also blamed the
government for drumming up fear and
creating the hysteria. Some of the country’s
newspapers had attempted to stop people
making the decision hastily, with Susan Day
writing in the Sunday Mirror: “putting your
pets to sleep is a very tragic decision. Do not
take it before it is absolutely necessary.”
Until recently the massacre had received
very little attention, however over the last
year it has started to become a ‘hot topic’
among those researching WW2. A new
book, named The Great Cat and Dog
Massacre by Hilda Kean, was released last
year detailing the massacre and this has
now lead to a fundraising campaign to fund
a proper memorial much like the one in
Hyde Park dedicated to the working animals
of the war.
December 2018