The death of a fox was recently described in detail
by the Press for the benefit of the public, in connexion with an incident which took place in Essex. Another incident described in equal detail at Darlington on Monday, when the joint- master of the Zetland Hounds was acquitted by a majority decision of the local bench on a charge of cruelty to a fox, suggests an instructive comparison between what you may do to a wild animal and what to a captive animal. In the case of the latter, a cat for example, the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1911 lays it down that
" If any person . . . shall cause, procure, or assist at the fighting or baiting of any animal . . . such person shall be guilty of an offence of cruelty within the meaning of this Act, and shall be liable upon summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £25, or alternatively, or in addition thereto, to be imprisoned with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding six months."
Which seems to suggest that to throw a cat to a dog or two is a punishable offence. In the Darlington case the defendant seized the fox, which had been dug out of an earth, by its hind legs and threw it to the pack of hounds as the most instantaneous death he could give it. I have no doubt the decision to acquit him was perfectly good law, as the law stands. But it does not altogether excite admiration for the law. * * * *
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