Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society
The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society was an animal rights advocacy organisation, co-founded in England, in 1903, by Lizzy Lind af Hageby, a Swedish feminist, and Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton. It was based for many years at Animal Defence House, 15 St James's Place, London, and ran a 237-acre animal sanctuary at Ferne House near Shaftesbury, Dorset, an estate owned by the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton.
The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society's executive council included Alice Drakoules who was a lifelong campaigner for animal rights and a keen supporter of the society. She helped the society campaign for licensed slaughterhouses, humane slaughter and for an ended to performing animals.
The society came to widespread attention during the Brown Dog affair, which began when Lind af Hageby infiltrated the vivisection in University College London of a brown terrier dog. The subsequent description of the experiment in her book, The Shambles of Science – in which she wrote that the dog had been conscious throughout and in pain – led to a protracted scandal and a libel case, which the accused researcher won. The affair continued for several years, making a name both for Lind af Hageby and for the society.
Following Lind af Hageby's death in December 1963, the society's assets were transferred to a trust, The Animal Defence Trust, which continues to offer grants for animal-protection projects.
