R.S.P.C.A. AND HUNTING [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In
your issue of July 25th Major J. C. Darling opposes the R.S.P.C.A. Bill now before Parliament to make deer- hunting illegal, with the argument that it is more humane to hunt than to shoot deer.
In support of this theory he writes : " . . . I have seen a buck . . . with a foot torn clean off cover three miles with hounds close at him before they caught him. . . . " I should like to ask Major Darling how the foot came to be torn clean off ; surely no gun used for shooting deer—even if fired at extremely close range by a bad shot—could cause such an injury. Was it caused by what he would have us believe to be the more humane method of hunting ?
I have never heard the suggestion put forward that deer- stalkers should be accompanied by a pack of hounds in order to complete the destruction of any wounded deer which may escape. A wounded animal if left to itself often recovers ; if severely wounded it dies. So why should its end be made as unhappy as possible by its being hunted to death ?—I am,
Sir, &c., K. L. DE BUNSEN. Fenil sur Vevey, Switzerland.
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