THE "GIN," OR STEEL TRAP WITH TEETH. . ire THE
EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I have just seen a letter in a contemporary, on the subject of that terrible instrument of torture the "Gin." I devoutly trust that some gentleman in the House of Commons will raise his voice on behalf of the unhappy animals done to death in such traps. It may not be generally known that engravings of the "gin," showing "the trap set," aud also "the victim caught," have appeared lately in the Anti-Vivi- sectionist, the only journal, so far as I know, which has ever given illustrations of this cruel trap, as commonly set for rabbits and cottagers' cats. I would further inform the public that the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has lately renewed its offer of £50 for a humane and effective trap, to supersede the " gin ;" and that a " Society to Promote the Disuse of Toothed Gins " has lately come into existence, the Secretary being II. W. Boyd Mackay, Esq., 16 Queen Street, Exeter. There was to be seen lately in the window of the office of Land and Water a stuffed specitnen of a little stoat with but one leg left, the other three legs having been, on different occasions, left behind in "gins I" An engraving of this poor little animal has appeared both in Land and Water and the Anti-Vivisectionist. A gentleman well versed in such matters, Mr. D. J. Patterson, of West Hill House, Mansfield, Notts, in a letter dated February 4th last, wrote :—" Thousands of rabbits are caught in this neigh- bourhood, and they are left in the cruel traps, with their poor, splintered leg-bones lacerating the flesh for a day and a half, sometimes. What they suffer, lying in summer-time in the hot sun, parched with thirst, hour after hour, we can only guess." There seems to be much difficulty in inventing a humane and effective trap, but it cannot possibly be right to subject any animal whatever to the intolerable and protracted torture of the "gin." I would, therefore, earnestly beg Mr. Hopwood or some other humane M.P. to propose to the House of Commons that a law be passed making the setting of " gins "
When shall we, as a nation, see fit to extend our present Cruelty to Animals Act so as to meet the case, not of domestic animals only, but also of wild animals.—I am, Sir, &c, ARTHUR F. ASTLEY.
Eastleigh Lodge, Warminster, Wilts, July.
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