TREATMENT OF ANIMALS IN ALBANIA
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Perhaps some of your many humanitarian readers may be interested in what is being done for animals by the Govern- ment of Albania. In 1928 Mrs. Violet Wood, Secretary of the Council of Justice to Animals, paid a short visit to the country, and I went with her. An Animal Protection Society was founded in Tirana, and a Dispensary opened, stocked with drugs by the Council, at which the chief Government veterinary
surgeon most kindly promised to attend. _ .
Last autumn I went out on my own account, and the authorities were extremely kind in giving me every- possible facility. I gave sixty-eight addresses in Colleges, schools of all grades, military schools, to the police, and in prisons ; to the school authorities especially I am deeply grateful for their sympathy and kindness.
Most of the animal suffering in Albania—which is very great—is due to poverty and ignorance rather than wilful cruelty ; the country's turbulent past has given little oppor- tunity for the development of ideas far from universally accepted even in England. Apparently I was the first person to see in a donkey a beautiful and intelligent creature, and everyone laughed when I talked to and fed them : but sonic of the children began to pet them too, and quote sentences I had taught them in the schools, so I hope they may come to realize the joy of the comradeship of animals.
The police helped me a great deal, and the prefects and mayors of Tirana, Scutari, and Durazzo gave them special orders to stop ill-treatment and overloading, both forbidden by Albanian law. Most -important of all, the Government has issued new regulations, one of which orders that all pack- animals must be unloaded when standing in the markets ; this was being actively carried out by the police when I left the Country, and will save an enormous amount of needless suffering and fatigue.
This extremely enlightened action of the Albanian Govern- ment will meet with much admiration and sympathy in England. It is surely unusual for a country which has had the ordering of its own affairs for so short a time to concern itself with matters that are generally the last care of a long- established civilizntion.-4 am, gir, &c.,
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