19 APRIL 1946, Page 15

THE STEEL-TOOTHED TRAP

SIR,—After living in this lovely part of England for seven months, I can now well believe the numbers of folk who have had to leave the district as they could not endure the terrible suffering caused by the gin trap. Recently my wife went for a short walk in the evening. On every side of her she heard the pitiful screams of tortured rabbits, and eventually got caught by the foot herself. I never imagined' such cruelty possible, and an old trapper farmer told me recently he could see no decrease in the rabbit population. There is not likely to be one whilst trappers and others are making such a fine living. Lightly-injured rabbits are, in fact, often released to provide a fresh harvest later on, whilst thousands of enemies of the rabbit—e.g., cats, dogs, hawks, owls, buzzards, stoats=are caught every year. It is almost impossible to imagine the suffering caused by this brutal and useless trap.—tours, &c., R. R. Sant Challacombe, near Barnstaple, Devon.