Oral history interview with Walter Kilroy [electronic resource], 2000.

Biographical Note

Walter Kilroy (1939-) worked for decades at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA). His interests in animals began during childhood. In 1955, Kilroy began working at the MSPCA's Angell Memorial Hospital in 1955, first as a kennel attendant, then as a veterinary nurse, and later as an ambulance and rescue driver. Over the next four decades he held various positions at the MSPCA including: law enforcement (1959-1960), Assistant Director of the American Fondouk in Fez Morocco (1961-1962), Assistant Director of Law Enforcement (1963-1967), Administrative Assistant to the President (1973-1975), Director of Operations (1976-1977), Vice President and Registered Lobbyist (1977-1984), Executive Vice President (1985-1987). He became Director of Law Enforcement in 1989. Issues of particular interest to him included wildlife, trapping, zoos, pet shops, and overpopulation of animals.

Scope and Contents

Walter Kilroy beings this two session interview by discussing his childhood experiences with animals and beginning to work as the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals's Angell Memorial Hospital as a kennel attendant at the age of sixteen. He discusses experiences working as an ambulance driver for the MSPCA, laws on animal abuse in the 1950s, and the law enforcement activities of the MSPCA. He discusses his time working at the American Fondouk veterinary hospital in Fez, Morocco from 1961-1962 and attitudes towards animals in Morocco. He also discusses a range of issues about animals from the 1970s to 1990s including trapping, overpopulation, spay and neuter campaigns, euthanasia at human societies, pet shops, treatment of animals at zoos, and environmentalism.

Subjects

• Animal industry--Moral and ethical aspects.
• Animal rights.
• Animal rights activists--Interviews.
• Animal rights movement.
• Interviews.
• Kilroy, Walter, 1939---Interviews.
• Oral histories.
• Rowe, Martin interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2016.