Summary: The page includes a textual summary of the history of animal control in the Corporations of Washington, Georgetown, and the County of Washington, which became collectively known as the District of Columbia in 1871. A thorough collection of the chronology of animal control laws from 1791 to about 1940 is also attached. This includes a complete list of all laws related to animals for this period. As noted by the author, animal control tended evolve among two tracks: (1) farm animals estrays and procedures for boarding and/or returning them to their owners; and (2) dogs, which were more or less viewed as a health concerns and financial drains for local government. Enactment of anti-cruelty laws did not occur until the late nineteenth century.