LOOKING FOR A HUMANE TRAP
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Since writing to your paper on the subject of humane rabbit catching on October 20th, I hear that the Women's Institute authorities in Warwickshire had already made efforts to spread the use of a humane snare.
I have also had a conversation with the local secretary of the R.S.P.C.A., and he has promised to give a lecture to my own Institute on it. He is also going to speak on the subject of the perpetually chained-up dog—a very old and honoured habit in our village and one which I am afraid it will be hard to break. The chief point of interest in the conversation was, however, that though there is a cheap humane rabbit snare on the market, rabbit catchers on a large scale prefer to use the steel toothed trap.
That the ideal humane killer has not yet been found is further borne out by the fact that the R.S.P.C.A. is still offering a prize of £300 for one. Our local secretary is of the opinion that this prize, though the best that the society can afford, is not sufficiently attractive, and that if an inventor is to put his mind to it, and carry out extensive experiments, the offer will have to be five or six times as great. His hope is that one day the Spectator, as one of the leaders of humane methods in the British Isles, will raise a fund to be devoted to the establishment of a perfectly efficient and inexpensive rabbit snare. He considers that the venture would receive a great deal of support.—I am, Sir., &c., [We are still of the opinion that much more could be done for the cause of the humane treatment of animals by the Women's Institutes. We fear they will have their work cut out in fighting the general practice of chaining dogs all day long. We wish them luck in their efforts.—Ed. Spectator.]
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