"Serious duty of all well-thinking, reasonable and sympathetic people". Pastor Philipp Heinrich Wolff, founder of the "Zurich Association against Cruelty to Animals" 1856, with his wife.
Old animal transport vehicle of the "Cantonal Zurich Animal Protection Society" on an extra tour.
Very modest start with hand-drawn society paper and simple domicile house.
Welcoming the 25000th society member by the president in in the year 1979.
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Search for the woman: Philipp Heinrich Wolff, pastor at Weiningen from 1849 until his death in 1903, is probably the "father" of the Zurich Animal Protection Society, however, as he said himself, the idea came from a woman "rich in spirit and with a heart in the right place". This fellow citizen, Mrs. Vögeli-Holzlaub, said to Mr. Wolff: "We want to found an Animal Protection Society in Zurich, you are the man to do it, try it!"
This was in 1856 and the tireless and politically extremely active pastor Wolff, always ready to lend a helping hand - he was a member of the Zurich cantonal parliament during 52 years! - immediately proceeded to action. It was in the same year that the "Zurich Association against Cruelty to Animals" was founded. Wolff, born in 1822 as second son of the pastor of Affoltern and citizen of Zurich, appears in the mirror of the cantonal records as a liberal-minded, technically interested politician who succeeded in bridging up the gap between town and country that broke out time and again. He had a moderate attitude towards protection of animals and tried to get things moving on a widely supported basis to put a stop to "the worst excesses, the most extreme maltreatments".
In his memoirs written shortly before death, he took optimistic stock of his endeavours: "Thanks first of all to the animal protection societies and their agents, the public opinion in favour of animals has steadily been growing and finally came to the conclusion that a reasonable animal protection is no longer considered to be a pecularity of some sentimental wrong-headed men but rather a serious duty of all well-thinking, reasonable and sympathetic persons, and in the very interest of the cultural and moral welfare of the people and the education of their youth, a public opinion which considers rough, terrible and useless cruelty to animals as detestable and criminal deeds."
Wolff could look back on some success. Just one year after the associations had been founded, cruelty to animals was legislated in the canton of Zurich which to a great extent was the work of the politician Wolff. In 1961, his initiative also brought forth the foundation of a Swiss animal protection umbrella organization in Olten. Anyhow, 78 years still had to pass after his death until a Swiss Animal Protection Law came into force.
The society founded in Zurich in the year 1856, that later became the Swiss Animal Protection Society (today Swiss Animal Protection Society STS), had approximately 5000 members in 1956. Hence the idea of an active animal protection only gained a firm foothold in the public eye during the following decades. The story of the Zurich Animal Protection shows that only years of dogged hard work can be chalked up as a success. The society is proud to be one of the leading Animal protection organizations today.
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