[3] Bergh attended Columbia College in New York City, but left before completing his degree, deciding instead to tour Europe, where he remained for five years.

[3] In 1862 Bergh entered government service when President Abraham Lincoln appointed him secretary of the U.S. legation in Tsarist Russia.

[3] On April 10, 1866, an act of incorporation of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was granted by the New York state legislature, with Bergh assuming the role of president of the new association, for which he received no financial compensation.

[3] During the 1872 outbreak of horse flu, Bergh stood wearing a top hat in the middle of New York City's streets and stopped horse-drawn trolleys and wagons being pulled by sick animals, sending them back to their stables.

In response, Bergh himself, along with Elbridge T. Gerry and John D. Wright, formed the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC) in 1875.

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow eulogized Bergh as "among the noblest in the land, Though he may count himself the least,That man I honour and revere, Who without favour,without fear,In the great city dares to stand The friend to every friendless beast.

On May 6, substantive ceremonies were held before a large audience which was allowed to bring their pets into the cemetery – including dogs, for the first time in over a century.

At the same time as these ceremonies, in the cemetery's large chapel building an exhibit was opened celebrating the history of the ASPCA and Henry Bergh.