Jules Rühl

Jules Rühl (1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Belgian animal welfare activist. During his life he was known as an apostle of animal protection.^[1]

Career

Rühl who worked in Anderlecht founded the Brussels Society Against Cruelty to Animals in 1897.^[1] In 1908 he founded Veeweyde, the first shelter for lost and abandoned animals in Belgium.^[2] He was the editor of the magazine Nos Meilleurs Amis (Our Best Friends).^[2] He proposed Belgium's first animal protection law which was implemented in 1929.^[1]

Rühl was a vegetarian in his personal life but was supportive of humane slaughter.^[1] He campaigned for the use of anaesthetics and humane killers in slaughterhouses as well as improving working conditions.^[1] He invented a humane pistol for killing livestock.^[3] He was a vice-president of the International Humanitarian Bureau from 1936 to 1938, an organization connected to the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society.^[4]

Death

Jules Rühl died in 1936 on a platform at the Gare du Midi, during an accident from transporting horses to Paris.^[2]

Legacy

A statue was erected in Astridplein to honour Ruhl's animal welfare work.^[1] Jules RühlStreet in Anderlecht is named in his honour.^[5]

Pierre Theunis made a sculptor of Jules Rühlwith an inscription on the front: "Jules Rühl protector of the humble and the weak, defender of mistreated animals".^[6][7]