"The little-told story of the massive WWII pet cull" Topic

"At the beginning of World War II, a government pamphlet led to a massive cull of British pets. As many as 750,000 British pets were killed in just one week. This little-discussed moment of panic is explored in a new book.

The cull came as the result of a public information campaign that caused an extraordinary reaction among anxious Britons.

In the summer of 1939, just before the outbreak of war, the National Air Raid Precautions Animals Committee (NARPAC) was formed. It drafted a notice – Advice to Animal Owners…"
Main page
link

Armand

Sad. I vaguely remember reading about a military call for dogs to be donated to the WW II war effort, in the USA. It had similar results: most donated pets were destroyed. Very little press is given to this event, as well. Cheers!

Agree!

Armand

How sad. What a striking example of how thoughtlessly cruel people can be, with just a little gentle urging from duly constituted authority. And of how heartless ideas can be.

As I recall, one of the early "Inspector Foyle" episodes touched upon the plight of pets in England during the height of the war – strict general food rationing allowed no food for pets.

A great series BTW, anchored by a great lead actor in Michael Kitchen. I've viewed the entire series at least three times.

B

@ Nine pound round

People really didn't have much choice, there literally wasn't any other alternative to the cull, as food shortages were so severe. It wasn't cruelty, it was a kindness to prevent them from dying from starvation. Cold war literature also suggested culling pets in the event of nuclear war.

People also sent their often very young children away, unaccompanied to be looked after by strangers in the countryside during this phase of the war. Imagine that taking place today.

The Blitz was absolutely horrendous, the horror was frequently downplayed for the sake of morale and in order to push the idea of the steadfast nation at war, it involved huge civilian casualties, men, women, children and was relentless with wave after wave of attacks in a single night. No one should be criticised for their conduct in these circumstances, we who never lived through these times can have no conception of how apocalyptic it must have felt. This also goes for other bombing campaigns targeting civilian populations.

Yes, being a dog lover, I find this a very bad turn of events. But the war was full of horrors … as we know.