“Stop beating that dog,” reads a particularly blunt title card in this fascinating old film that profiles the King County Humane Society (the precursor to today’s Seattle Humane Society). The footage shows cats rescued from rooftops, pups adopted, and one very placid cow. Can you imagine someone keeping cattle here today? I’m not even allowed to have a fish tank in my apartment.

Big thanks to Seattle Humane for sending this reel along to us — they had a few highlights displayed on screens at the recent Tuxes and Tails fundraiser, and it’s amazing to see the full thing, from the puppy-adoption process to arresting animal abusers to tracking rabies cases. (A side note: Potential rabies exposure in King County remains surprisingly high, and it has significantly increased over the last decade! Just something to keep in mind if you’re tempted to engage with a wild animal or skip your companion's vaccinations.)

Anyway, a lot has changed in the 80-ish years since this film was made … though some things remain sadly the same: One segment towards the end shows what appears to be a dog killed by a motorist.