THE LEAGUE AND ANIMALS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21906, 6 October 1936, Page 10

THE LEAGUE AND ANIMALS

INCLUSION IN TERMS OF COVENANT

EFFORT BY ROYAL SOCIETY

An attempt is being made by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, London, to secure provision for its aims in any revision of the League of Nations Covenant. According to a letter received by the Christchurch Society last evening, aast efforts “to establish a uniform standard of kindness” to animals throughout the world, have possibly failed because animal welfare has not been within the terms of the League Covenant. The Royal Society urged the Christchurch body to approach the Government, in the hope that the delegates to the league would be instructed to introduce the topic at Geneva in an attempt to bring about “a general pronouncement in favour of the legal rights of animals,” and to amend the covenant accordingly. “There is as we knew, a disparity ■’-•t countries in the laws affecting the welfare of animals,” the letter stated, "but it will be commonly agreed that there are many forms of suffering caused to animals and birds which can only be satisfactorily dealt with by international action. “Instances which readily come to mind are the transport of animals, the pollution of the sea by oil with its attendant destruction of many thousands of Seabirds, the making of films depicting cruelty to animals or in the production of which cruelty has taken place, and the destruction of wild birds for their plumage.” It was decided that the secretary should write to the Prime Minister as suggested by the Royal Society.