Careful here, the start of the Audubon Society was two women noticing the increasing use of feathers in hats!
“Boston socialites Harriet Lawrence Hemenway and her cousin Minna B. Hall founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the longest-lived organization dedicated to bird conservation and public education. After reading about egret hunting practices in 1896, the two women were determined to persuade and convince other prominent women that they were committing a deadly and tragic wrong by wearing birds or bird feathers on their hats.
Through a boycott and tea parties, they convinced some 900 women not to wear feathered hats, and to work with their new group to promote bird protection. They also encouraged the use of ribbons and other millinery decorations in place of feathers. “
They did wear some crazy feathered hats back then.