ANIMALS PROTECTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1935, Page 13

ANIMALS PROTECTED.

GERMAN KINDNESS. APPEALS IN WINTER TIME. BERLIN, February 24. Man's four-legged friends, horses, dogs and the deer out in the forests enjoy more protection in Germany today than in any other country of the world, according to Princess Djavidan Hanoum, who enumerated with glowing eyes all the measures taken and appeals issued to safeguard them in Germany. But she speaks with horror of the scenes she witnessed in Warsaw just a few weeks ago, where, despite the frantic efforts of students and members of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, horses, for instance, are going through agonies of suffering which seem culled but of Dante's Inferno and not every day reality.

Princess Djavidan Hanouni, who incidentally was born in Philadelphia, as former wife of the ex-khedive of Egypt, Abbas-Hilmi, wrote a book, "Harem," telling the authentic inside story of life in Harems. One of the chapters' of the book is devoted to animals. For years, on her trips around the world, Princess Djavidan has devoted, much of her time to the improvement of the lot of man's friends, horses, dogs and other animals.

In Berlin and Germany when it gets cold one will find appeals- in the papers "remember the animals which might bo suffering." Inspectors go through the suburbs and villages of Germany to make sure that watchdogs and other animals are protected against the cold. Hunters and forest guards organise emergency services to help the deer and inhabitants of forest, marshes and wide open spaces. In Berlin itself one rarely sees a horse compelled to draw more than it can manage. If one does, the first policeman one finds will arrest the driver and sentences against persons who are cruel to animals are more severe than they ever were. •

In Warsaw—just a eight's ride away from Berlin —it is totally different. The town is more beautiful than ever—the life, the people as charming as ever, Princess Djavidan declares —"but the suffering of the horses of Warsaw seems incomprehensible in this day and age."

Student volunteers have /banded together to endeavour to help the horses of Poland. Laws have been passed, but they are not being enforced. Princess Djavidan tells how she went out into the country with friends, and way out in the villages they would meet an occasional young student with the blue cap of the inspector of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. They receive no money— they cover their own expenses, but despite their glowing enthusiasm they can do only little to help; there are not enough of them, they don't have enough funds or influence to bring about the necessary improvements. . "Most horses drawing the wagons of peasants r and small townsmen are in bad condition —sore feet, abscesses, big sores from too heavy weights and wrong harness. Princess Djavidan declared, her eyes blazing: "I went out and watched the horses—l saw on© poor decrepit animal that was so hungry it started gna/ing the wooden post to which it was tied —its ribs showing in wide ridges. Sometimes cart owners arc punished —when too many horses die on their hands within a short time —but the punishment is usually merely a small fine, in no relation whatever to the cruelty of the delinquent. And this is only one of a whole string of examples one could cite." ~ J