CAPTIVE BIRDS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 301, 15 September 1933, Page 10

CAPTIVE BIRDS

/ The Wellington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals / has raised a humanitarian question in its decision to draw public attention to the illegality and cruelty of the practice of trapping wild birds. . This question recently aroused considerable controversy in England in connection with a Bill introduced in the House of Lords by Lord Buckmaster for the further protection of wild birds. The discussion in Parliament and in the Press revealed the growth of a new and kindlier public attitude toward the . birds, due no doubt to the influence of much interesting matter on bird life which has been published in the newspapers during recent years, and to the growing popularity of Nature studies on the screen. Nor is this attitude confined to the birds. It is extending to wild life in general. Even now it is considered much better sportsmanship to stalk big game with a camera rather than a gun. People are discovering that it is much more interesting to study wild life in its native haunts than behind iron bars.

One of the arguments raised against Lord Buckmaster’s Bill was that under humane treatment and in adequate space, captive birds could ■ adj’ust themselves to their new conditions. To that the retort was made that the actual deprivation of their liberty was in itself an act of inhumanity unworthy of an enlightened and more sympathetic age. It may be argued that canaries live quite happily in their cages, .but canaries have been born in captivity for many generations. Even this circumstance in justification does not dispose of the fact that as birds of the air they were never intended in the scheme of Nature to live their lives behind bars.

There is evident everywhere in this country a more friendly interest in birds in the free state. Bird-lovers in the city and suburbs find constant delight in feeding feathered visitors on their lawns, and many have provided feedmg tables, watering troughs, and even conveniences for nesting. When it is easy to enjoy birds on these free terms, it becomes gratuitous to cage them. The Wellington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals may rest assured that the public in the main will heartily endorse and support its crusade on behalf of the birds.