An Excellent Scottish Society
THE Eighty-eighth Annual Report of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals* is to be commended to all who are interested in our treatment of animals. The field covered is a large one and includes such different subjects as education 'in kindness to animals -by means of lantern lectures, the humane de- struction of dogs and cats, a discussion of the problem of performing animals, the question of pit ponies, the Irish cattle traffic, trapping cruelties, fur farms, slaughter reform in Scotland and advocacy of the cessation of the Worn-out horse traffic to the Continent.
The directors of the Society have wisely understood that- the best way to effect reform is through the Press, and their aim appears to be to seek to prevent cruelty, rather than to mete out punishment to offenders. It is satisfactory to note that the Editor of the Scottish
!,` The Annual Report of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Edinburgh.
Butchers' Journal has consistently supported the cause of slaughter reform in Scotland. All who are aware how much cruelty takes place in the oversea transport of cattle must welcome the action taken by the Scottish Society, in conjunction with the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in arranging a deputa- tion to the Minister of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. If the terms of the new Transport of Animals Order which came into effect on May 1st last are observed, they will undoubtedly eliminate much unnecessary cruelty, but in our view it is impossible to ship cattle by sea, especially in the winter, without'cruelty. It is likewise satisfactory to know that at the fur farms visited in Scotland silver foxes are- destroyed in chloroformed lethal boxes.
As we have stated on former occasions, England, Wales, and Ireland are not as far advanced as Scotland in the matter of slaughter reform, and as long as the private slaughter-house is permitted much headway will not be made. But even in Scotland there are plenty of matters requiring attention. In the Edinburgh abattoir, where the 700 cattle killed weekly are mechanically stunned, 8,000 sheep and 300 pigs are killed by the old methods, and the same is true of many other places. In Glasgow there still appears to be considerable prejudice against the introduction of the pig-trap, and in the battle for slaughter reform Glasgow is a key position, for many local authorities look to Glasgow for a lead. As the introduction of the pig-trap has been so successful in Sheffield we hope that the experiment which the municipal authorities are making with a Schermer Pig Trap will prove equally satisfactory. Little progress seems to have been made during the past year in the fight against the live-horse export trade, but the society is concentrating attention on its evils. Support is given to the proposed establishment of cor operative abattoirs in central situations with by-product factories adjacent. Only by such means can we as a nation ensure that horses shall be immanely:slaughtere4 as they almost inevitably will not be if exported.
The immediate objectives of all who are interested in slaughter reform should be the concentration of slaughter- ing in the central abattoirs, the licensing of slaughtermen, and the national adoption of mechanical stunning, not only in the case of cattle, but of pigs and sheep as well.
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