THE ALLEGED BORDEAUX ATROCITY.
[To TEM BEMs or TH2 "SPECTATOR.'-] SIR,—The statements made in the Spectator a few weeks ago on the above subject were promptly brought under the notice of this Society. Though the internal evidence of Mrs. Had- -den's letter was unsatisfactory the committee felt it to be unsafe to discredit it, much less contradict it, without inveeti-
• gating the allegations on the spot where it was said the -cruelty was being committed. A commissioner was therefore directed to visit Bordeaux, whose lengthy and exhaustive Report is now before me. Will you kindly permit me to summarise the allegations and the Report?
First of all, I desire to remind your residers, in justice to
your correspondent, that Mrs. Hadden's letter was based on statements given to her, and not on personal observation wade in the leech-pond district. My acquaintance with that 'lady, and my conversations with her on this subject, enable me to testify that though she is an ardent lover of animals, she is incapable of exciting a sense of horror in the minds of your readers by publishing details of cruelty derived from -doubtful sources.
The letter, in effect, alleged that about twenty thousand
old, decrepid horses, apparently shipped from England to Trance, are annually dragged into the Bordeaux leech-ponds, where they suffer indescribable agony from thousands of bloodsuckers, which fasten on them until their bodies are black with the crawling creatures. These they vainly try to shake .off, their terror continuing until they are sucked under into the noxious slime, and are no more seen.
The Report shows that only eighty-five foreign horses arrived in Bordeaux in 1893, seventy-four in 1894, and seventy- lour in 1895, all of which were valuable carriage or riding horses, imported for use by residents or visitors. Old horses .can be bought for less money in that town than in England, and no horse can be conveyed there by sea or rail for less than £5.
Thirty years ago there was a large trade in leeches; now leeches are so little in demand that they are not cultivated as 'formerly in Bordeaux, but are occasionally picked out of the surrounding swamps by peasants, and brought in small parcels
to that town and sold for about one halfpenny each. Some of the swamps (e.g., in the district of Landes) are what we -call marshes, where thousands of young and valuable animals are placed to graze by breeders, and the legs of these casually entering shallow-water are seized on by leeches, who gorge themselves and fall off, the horses showing no signs of pain. The breeders discourage peasants from collecting leeches in these swamps, under an impression that the horses profit by an occasional bleeding.
There are three persons who were known at Bordeaux to
have formerly cultivated leeches in the Medoc district; the first having incurred heavy losses had given up that calling, the second and third exhibited their swampy pasture-land, the ponds containing clear water and being small indentations of from six to twelve inches deep. Both of these men buy a few horses during the year, which run over the pasture-land as before stated. Leeches collected here by the peasants, and brought to these men, are put into a pool fifteen to twenty feet square and about twelve inches, -deep, and in April, May, and June, and September, October, and November, the horses are led into the pool, leeches
requiring to be gorged twice a year during the breeding season. The horses show no sign of pain, and the leeches fall off, retiring into the banks, where they lay their eggs. The leeches never ascend above the legs of the horses. Both these men showed their horses, which were in good con- dition. All of them, they said, had been walked into the pools twice every week during the six months men- tioned of the last eight and ten years, and kept in the water about thirty to forty minutes each time. These animals were strong when purchased, and had coat about 100 fr. each ; a few worn-out horses had come to them, they admitted, at a cost of about 20 fr. each, but these were need only a few times in the pools, and when feeble were sold for their skins, being no longer able to succour leeches. The leeches collected here are sent to Bordeaux, where they are placed in cisterns for exportation, chiefly to South America.
A survey of a radius of from ten to twenty miles was made and not a solitary instance of mud or noxious slime could be found in the places where leeches congregate; and obviously it is not possible for horses to be " sucked down and be seen no more " in pools that are not more than twelve inches deep. Even if these pools were deep ponds, one would be curious to learn what depths would be required to entomb twenty thousand horses, or whether the ponds were bottomless, or why the dead bodies buried in them had not bred a pestilence.
There can be no doubt that submitting horses to the bleeding process described above twice a week, even if they survive for years, is deliberate as well as loathsome cruelty ; but your readers will be glad to learn that the orignal state- ment is happily a gross exaggeration.—I am, Sir, &O., JOHN COLAM, Secretary.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 105 Jermyn Street.
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