A GENUINE IRISH GRIEVANCE. (To no EDITOR OF TBE "
SPECTATOR."
SIR,—Many of your readers may not be aware that the practice (illegal in England) of dishorning cattle with the saw is in Ireland allowed, or supposed to be allowed, by law. In the case of Callaghan v. S.P.C.A. (16 L.R. Ir., 325) it has been laid down that the dishorning of cattle is not illegal "if carried out with reasonable care and skill," and in such a manner as not to cause needless pain to the animal. Now I venture to submit that it is quite impossible to saw off fully developed horns close to the head without causing excruciating pain to the animal so treated, and that in such an operation there is no room for "reasonable care and skill." Where clippers or other instruments specially made for the purpose are em- ployed, it is probable that the pain caused is considerably less ; and it seems likely that the use of such implements—though in practice quite exceptional—was in the minds of the Court which gave the ruling in question. But be that as it may, under cover of this decision the belief has grown up among Irish farmers that they are legally justified in sawing off the horns of yearling and two-year-old cattle flush with the skull. And this barbarous practice is common throughout, I believe, the greater part of the country. One, if not the only, humane mode of dishorning cattle is to rub the roots of the horns with a stick of caustic potash when the calf is a few days old. This method, at once easy, painless, and efficacious, was recom- mended by the Irish Agricultural Department as long ago as 1902, but is very rarely adopted by breeders. Every farmer has a saw, and very few farmers will take the trouble of buying a stick of caustic potash.
Will no humane M.P. take up the matter and introduce a Bill to amend the existing law for prevention of cruelty to animals so as to make dishorning with the saw clearly illegal P A measure of this nature would, it may be hoped, meet with little or no opposition in Parliament. Such a Bill might well include a definite prohibition of the practice of plucking live geese, which is still common in Ireland. The Limerick Branch of the S.P.C.A. prosecuted in a case of this kind at the County Limerick Petty Sessions only a few days ago. According to a report in the Irish Times of September 29th, the facts alleged were not denied, but a majority of the magistrates refused to convict, the chairman stating that "as a farmer be was convinced that it was necessary to pluck geese, firstly, to prevent feathers flying round the land, which endangered the cattle grazing, and taking them up ; secondly, because it improved the bird's condition" (P).—I am, Sir, &o.,
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