18 MAY 1867, Page 3

Somebody, who signs himself " Telam," has raised an odd

ques- tion in the Times. Is it wrong to feed a wild beast with live animals? The boa is so fed with rabbits, and "Telam " says that is very cruel. Clearly it is cruel if the boa will eat dead meat, but if not, it has at least as much right to live as the rabbits, which it would eat in its own home. The cruelty, if any, is that of Nature, not of the managers of the Zoological Gardens. Whether the daily spectacle is a healthy one for children is a totally differ- ent point. We should say not, as it familiarizes them not only with killing, but with slow torture.