Cruelty to Animals.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 118, 27 May 1885, Page 3

Cruelty to Animals.

(To tho Editor.)

: , ."»"■* *'"'" lcol obliged if you allow me a I brief space in your columns to draw the attention of tho public, of tho Society for Jo' o I'rovcution of Cruelty to Animals, and it* Inspector, Mr Rodgute, to 20 acts of cvuelty committed at .L'lumpton Parkin ti J presence of 800 spectators, including a immbiir of ladies, on Monday, tho 25th tit., m that day.* " royal sport "of harecmrisiiiK. Everyone knows that tho hare is aii inoftcnrivo animal, and as timid as inolionsivo, and totally without any moans of drtonco; yot here, in this Christian- (?) c.lony, SOO colonists celebrate the birthday ol our Qucon by witnessing twenty- ■-; ■: of tho.-o little creatures hunted to floath. I read, "the slaughter was foarful. Only two ooursod hares escaped, and all the tv.'t wcro killed, Numbers dropped dead or became lamo which were not chased at a'l." What mental agony must have been that of thc«o little creatures before a tooth w,is set in them. Submit any member of tho Coun<ing Club to tho hunt of two forocious dogs determined to throttle him, him no weapon of defence, and he will I hiivo an idea of the agony of a hunted hare. Iti agony is so intense that should it escape the hounds, it escapes but to dio from ex-c-'omont. Thoro aro some piistimos called uporta which aio condemnod by many as brutal, yet they are conducted with fairness

— :i quality ciuite absent from hare-coursing. In cock-fighting, dog-tightii'g, and boxing ono i-j pitted against ono, not onoapainst two, and it is considered whether tho combatants are matched, or nearly matched, in size and weight; but in hare-coursing no equality of condition is considered, and two big hounds are sot on to run down a poor liule hare-for what? Simply that money nvvy change hands by betting on the tleotest humid. That is tho soul of tho whole harecii«r:sm^ businoss. As sports, cock-fighting, (J.ur.lighting, and boxing are docidedly more useful, more fair, and moro humane than hu.ro coursing ; but they are vulgar nports, while hare coursing is a snobbish allectation of aristocratic tasto—a "royal sport" as your roportor has it. I admit thero are a few things about the aristocracy of the mother country worthy of imitation, but their barbarisms are not of those, and that hare-coursing is a barbarism must bo ovidont to everyone but the members of tho Coursing Club. Of course wo must kill animals wo class as vermin, and wo must kill animals whoso skins ur carcases wo require for uso, but we despatch them with us little suffering as possible; we do not make tho:r sufferings and terrors and doublings to escape doath minister to our sport; we do not derive ivmaeement from their tortures. Ilarocoursing nmy be aristocratic : it may evon bo royal, but in tho =culo of human sontiinont, it is low.—l am, &c, A. Campbell.