Humphrey Primatt (1734 – c. 1776) was an English clergyman and early animal rights writer.[1][2] Primatt has been described as "one of the most important figures in the development of a notion of animal rights."[3]
In 1776, Primatt authored A Dissertation on the Duty of Mercy and Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals, which argued that all animals were created by God, so deserve humane treatment and that any form of cruelty to animals should be equated with atheism and wickedness.[5][6]
Primatt held that pain is evil and humans have no right to inflict it on animals or each other.[1] He commented that "pain is pain, whether it be inflicted on man or on beast".[7] It was one of the first books to argue for the compassionate treatment of animals and influenced the animal welfare movement.[8][9][10][11]
Primatt did not promote vegetarianism.[16] He suggested that man is permitted to kill animals for food but denied that this permits unnecessary suffering.[2]
^Li, Chien-hui. (2019). Mobilizing Traditions in the First Wave of the British Animal Defense Movement. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 34. ISBN978-1-137-52650-2
^ abBekoff, Marc. (2010). Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare, 2nd Edition. ABC-CLIO. pp. 484-485. ISBN978-0-313-35257-7