A Humane Master The verdict of an M.F.H. in the
West Country is peculiarly
emphatic and convincing :
" That the pest of rabbits is entirely due to traps having destroyed all their natural enemies has been evident to many people for some time. As a Master of Hounds I have seen much of the cruelty of these traps. For the last three seasons 20 per cent. of the foxes killed by my hounds had already been crippled by traps. A fox or badger will draw the trap and by the brightness of the steel one can tell how many miles he has dragged it either to be mercifully killed by hounds or, to lie up and die. I have myself found skeletons of foxes fast in a trap a few feet down an earth. Ahnost certainly many badgers drag traps to the bottom of deep earths. Visitors to Cornwall have remarked that they never see any of our natural wild animals. Down here traps are left uncovered in the open, and until they are stopped by law the countryside will be ruined. Farms will be overrun with rabbits. Hedges and crops will be ruined."
Previous page
