Oral history interview with Carter Luke [electronic resource], 2000.

Biographical Note

Carter Luke was interested in wild and companion animals from childhood, and he received a B.A. in Mathematics and Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin and did graduate work in Elementary Education. He taught elementary school from 1973-1976 and worked construction on and off through the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 1977 Luke left teaching to become shelter manager and humane officer at the Coulee Region Humane Society in Wisconsin. Six years later he accepted the position of Executive Director of the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1985, he became Director of Shelters for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and he became the organization's Vice President of Humane Services in 1988.

Scope and Contents

Carter Luke begins the one session by discussing his childhood, early interest in animals, and experiences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He describes interactions with Professor Harry Harlow and Steven Suomi, researchers using primates for psychological research, and discusses the importance of civil interactions despite philosophical differences. He describes starting with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA). He also analyzes activities at the MSPCA during the 1990s, the 1993 Year of the Cat national campaign, coalitions between organizations, and the interactions between the veterinary and humane communities.

Subjects

• Animal industry--Moral and ethical aspects.
• Animal rights.
• Animal rights activists--Interviews.
• Animal rights movement.
• Animal shelters.
• Interviews.
• Laboratory animals.
• Luke, Carter, 1948---Interviews.
• Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
• Oral histories.
• Rowe, Martin interviewer.

Access Conditions

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