zoophilite

plural zoophilites

1. datedrareA person who is fond of animals.

   She is first and foremost a zoophilite and as such has no fear whatever of wild animals.

   1970, The Commonwealth Forestry Review, volumes 49-50, page 101

   1 more example

   At the end of some three-score years since the earliest was founded, the various Zoophilite Societies in the Kingdom — Societies for Prevention of Cruelty, Anti-vivisection Societies, and Homes for Horses and for Lost Dogs — may possibly possess, including legacies and subscriptions, some forty thousand a-year between them all.

   1889, The Animal's Defender and Zoophilist, volume 8, page 70

   Synonyms: zoophilist