ABSTRACT
The Warwick lion fight attracted considerable attention in the contemporary press, most of it sharply critical. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, attitudes towards animal baiting were starting to change, and what had once been an accepted source of courtly entertainment was no longer viewed with equanimity. In this new social climate, the spectacle at Warwick appeared to many as brutal, morally repugnant and anachronistic, a remnant of barbarism in a modernising age. This chapter offers a detailed study of the Warwick lion fight, its reception and consequences. Increasing compassion for animals was reflected in the introduction of legislation to prohibit some of the most blatant forms of cruelty, particularly those closely associated with social unrest. To police the treatment of animals, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) was founded in 1824 by Reverend Arthur Broome. The Warwick lion fights received extensive coverage in the local and national papers, much of it deeply unfavourable.
