PERFORMING ANIMALS
[To the Editor of the SrEcrazoa.1
Snt,—It was doubtless lack of space that prevented Major Yeats-Brown from mentioning in his trenchant article in last week's Spectator the difficulty which sonic people appar- ently have in grasping the fact that much cruelty is still being committed behind the scenes wherever performing animals are employed as a means of making money. A short while ago the writer of a letter in the Press el • sl that animals were now trained by kindness because of late years there had been no convictions for cruelty in this respect.
The reason is that, under the 1925 Act, constables and officers specially appointed by local authorities may visit at all reasonable times places where animals are kept for training or exhibition. They are not, however, entitled to go on or behind the stage during a public performance of performing animals.
Moreover, there are few, if any, local authorities who have appointed officers for this purpose, and while I have nearly always found the police sympathetic it is only right to say that the official mind lags woefully bel • I enlightened public opinion in the matter of performing animals. There hms been evinced none of that verve and elan in ferreting out acts of cruelty in circuses 'which one feels would he displayed in chasing the perpetrator of a smash-and-grab raid on a West End jeweller's shop. Yet, as regards the effect on the mind and character of the co llllll unity, and especially of the com- munity's children, an overt act of brigandage is far less insi- dious than the training and exhibition of these miserable prisoners and captives.
There is yet another point to be borne in mind, and that 1,1 that the Showmen's Guild has announced its determination to fight the Performing Animals Bill in the Onnmons. This will be a costly business for them. It is also a definitely anti- social act. The money they will spend would be put to far better use in forming a very substantial nucleus of a compen- sation fund for any workers standing to lose their present means of livelihood.
However, as they appear to be determined to fight, might I invite your readers to help, with service or purse, or preferably both, this League, which hums borne the heat and burden of the day as regards educating public opinion against this particular form of cruelty ?—I ant, Sir, &e., Secretary, The Perfor • g and Captive Animals' Defence League, 17, Buckingham Street, Adelphi,
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