CRUELTY TO WILD ANIMALS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." .J SIR,—Will the Spectator—always the animals' friend—allow me to call attention to recent instances of the cruelties of our so-called " sports," and to the still greater cruelties of so- called " science " Let " science " proudly lead, with its pub- lished account of " an original and somewhat entertaining experi- ment," where female monkeys were put into " stays," which were " laced" till the lives of the wretched creatures were crushed out of them ! Monkeys, it is explained, were selected for this experiment, instead of dogs, because of their greater resemblance to women. And the " entertainment " consisted in demonstrating upon monkeys the results of "tight-lacing,"" —results that, we are told, were " very marked indeed," and naturally, since in their "plaster-of-Paris jackets, to imitate stays," they were slowly crushed to death. The experiment seems to have been upon a wholesale scale, for we hear that " several " of the animals soon died, but that " some " of them lived; and the author of the experiment explained their sur- vival as " probably due to the fact that the diaphragm is able to compensate to a great extent for the enforced loss- of chest movement." Now, will it be pretended that anything could be learnt from this cruel experiment, that- has already been repeated on other animals ? Is there a medical man who does not know far better than experi- ments on monkeys can teach him, what the evils and the dangers are that result from tight-lacing P And does it surprise any of us to hear that pressure sufficient to make- breathing impossible—a simpler expression than " the enforced loss of chest movement "—would be sufficient to cause death ?' These monkeys were laced to death, as dogs have been starved to death and choked to death, simply to ascertain how long- the poor creatures could live while the various processes were being carried out; and hundreds of such objectless experimenta are dignified with the title of "scientific research "
Alas, that when we come to " sport," the term should seem equally a misnomer ! In the description of a recent stag-hunt, we are told that the poor stag was so tame, that when first uncoated it " stood quietly looking at the com- pany,"—the " company " expressly assembled to witness its agonies. But the hounds were soon let loose and the " sport" began ; and after a long chase, and when the hounds had dragged the stag to the ground and were beginning to tear it to pieces, they were called off by the hunts- men, and " the bleeding and terrified quarry " was put back into the cart to serve another day for the purposes of " sport." It will scarcely stand again and " look quietly at the company," whose presence it will too well understand. In another case, a poor hind that had escaped from its pursuers was, after three weeks, " unearthed " by the Surrey stag- hounds, and her daring and frantic efforts at escape must indeed have afforded rare sport to the onlookers, who facetiously dubbed her "Lady Reckless." I will not describe what I would not have read, but for the thought that I would plead their cause in the Spectator. One pitiful attempt at escape was into a house, where the dumb entreaty for a refuge was refused; and when at last, from sheer exhaustion, the poor creature lay down, the dogs were not allowed to finish their work, that, when recovered, she may again afford " sport " by what was described as " prodigies of speed and cunning."
When last week the Home Secretary was asked if his attention had been called to a revolting case of rabbit- worrying, he replied that " legislation with respect to wild animals was surrounded with such difficulty that he did not see what could be done," and he was right; and cruelty that Mr. James Lowther defended as " the pastime of the masses " cannot be interfered with while the cruelty of stag-hunting is permitted to gentlemen. " Several County Magistrates," we read, witnessed the stag-hunt; how could they have punished the men brought before them next day for " making matches " with their terriers to tear in pieces live rabbits ? But the way out of the difficulty is clear, and if the country that already has its Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would but legislate against gross cruelty, under whatever name com- mitted, it would be spared such disgraceful exhibitions as those afforded by laced-up monkeys and hunted stags.—I am,
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