TOO MANY ANIMAL PETS?

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 42, 19 February 1937, Page 6

TOO MANY ANIMAL PETS?

An English visitor declares that he is shocked at the method of feeding and kennel management of sheep dogs. I am not surprised. Great cruelty is noticeable in* the treatment of animals in Xew Zealand, in spite of the efforts of those who endeavour to mitigate the suffering. Personally I have not seen anything of the "management" of cattle and sheep dogs, though I have seen something of the driving of sheep about the country, without food or water. In the effort to make money quickly, why should we lose all decency of feeling? I think everywhere in New Zealand there are far too many so-called "pets." People seem to forget that animals are living creatures with nerves and highly developed powers of affection and faithfulness. Yet they are bought or given away without a thought. A puppy or kitten is placed in the hands of a small child, who, after the manner of a young child, clutches it firmly, causing it agony. If the "pet" survives long, after eight or nine months the holidays come round, and the kind of person I am referring to either leaves it to pick up anything it can, or takes it into the city and just drops it on the pavement anywhere. Tar-sealed roads don't supply much in the food line. Some "pets" are dumped on the seashore and left there! Wouldn't it be far better and kinder to have fewer pets? Licensed breeding kennels for dogs and cat* would seem to be preferable. I wish the public would rise and stand up against cruelty. L. P. KNIGHT.