R. Dale Hylton Dies, Who the Heck Was He?

He was a guy that cared about animal welfare long before you were probably born!

He was hired in 1964 as an investigator and was part of a long-running Humane Society effort to bring federal regulations to the laboratory animal trade. He went to Pennsylvania posing as an animal buyer for a hospital's experimental program and documented unofficial auctions of animals.

He later wrote of discovering animal dealers who preferred "to trade truckloads of dogs with dealers across state lines with the primary purpose of frustrating any owner's attempt to trace any owned pet that had disappeared."

The society turned over its information to state and federal authorities, which led to the federal Animal Welfare Act of 1966. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the act is the only federal law to regulate the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport and commerce.

1966? Wow. Seems almost like a Rachel Carson for the Animal Rights movement...