CRUEL TRAPPING AND FURS [To the Editor of 'THE SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—The British Field Sports Society wish to have it made- illegal to set steel-toothed traps (or gins) in the open. Although this i'vefuld. prevent grazing cattle from getting their lips and tongues torn ' and mutilated by these traps, it 'would not prevent- the torture, of rabbits and other animals in burrows ; so that a total abolition of these instruments of torture is really' necessary. I have just had a report from Devonshire of five' cats being found dead in gins in one hedgerow. These traps had. been left set and never visited, and it must have taken about. three. weeks to starve these animals to death. For the past fortnight I have had a rabbit squealing in a gin exhibited in Piccadilly and other London streets, as a great many people are quite ignorant about gin trapping., This rabbit was a stuffed one and the squeals were produced mechanically. People should avoid having rabbits for food, with legs' mutilated by traps, as the flesh of tortured animals. is highly fevered.
have also had a hundred thousand of my -Fur Crusade. leaflets distributed from. house - to house in :London since. April. • These draw attention to the great cruelties of the fur trade in obtaining certain furs, such as broadtail, and also tell people by means of a White List what furs can be worn. with a clear conscience.
I am always ready to Supply information about the humane. trapping of all animals, even moles; if Spectator' readers will write to'ine.. ' C. VAN DER BYL (Major), " ' The Fur Crusade and Humane Trapping Campaign. Wappenhanh ,Toweastery „Northants.
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