THE HORRORS OF THE STEEL TRAP [To the Editor of
the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Any kindly disposed person who has lived like myself in the West Country or other trapping districts must be gravely concerned to learn of an increase in rabbit trapping. The consciousness of the agony of little creatures fixed and mutilated in the traps, the cries of anguish that too often break the silence of the night effectively militate against the peace of the country and the pleasure that should naturally be found by the lover of beautiful scenery. How can one be thoroughly happy surrounded by misery of even the humblest creature ?
My own experience has shown me that, though the country people do not deny the cruelty of the steel trap, they are so inured to its use and so convinced of its necessity in face of the prolific breeding of the rabbits and their depredations that they trouble themselves hardly at all about the pain caused. Added to which, the rabbits, trapped in enormous numbers, are a good source of gain. And the people who trap and sell them are generally very conservative in their methods and not easily induced to try new ways. Rounding up and shooting, though far from ideal and having its own particular drawbacks from the humane standpoint, would surely be preferable to trapping by the steel trap or the horrid choking gin.
A few people purchasing rabbits will demand them shot rather than trapped, sometimes "for humane reasons, some- times because they know that a creature that has agonized in a torturing trap is unwholesome eating and is poisoned flesh, but such humane and common-sensible purchasers are in the minority, unfortunately.
A humane trap that will catch and kill on the spot, or one that will hold uninjured till the trapper arrives to deal the death blow is urgently needed, and one that would catch and kill at once is far preferable in view of the frequent tardiness of the trapper in going his rounds and the liability of the wretched gripped captive being seized and eaten alive by some animal enemy—a horror hard to contemplate. Is there no one who can give us an efficient immediately-killing trap, so that this abomination the steel trap may be cast into that outer darkness where indeed it belongs ?—I am, Sir, &c., 30 Queens Road, Bayswater, W. 2.
ADA POOLE.
Previous page
