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Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 144, 15 March 1934, Page 7

The use of coal tar as a branding material by Hawke’s Bay sheep fanners will render them subject to prosecution, according to Mr. Charles Davis, inspector for the Hawkes Bay branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, reports the Napier “Daily Telegraph.’; Mr. Davis stated that he had been shown a number of sheepskins which had been branded with coal tar. “The tar had eaten right into the skin, and must have set up a most painful condition for the unfortunate animals. It was possible to poke a finger through the skins where the tar had touched, the skins being as thin as tissue paper at these points,” he said. Not only does the use of coal tar cause considerable suffering to sheep or lambs branded in this manner. but it also renders the skin absolutely useless for commercial purposes after Hie sheep has been killed. Stockholm tar is a perfectly innocuous prenaration, but coal tar. utilised for this purpose, la an irritant.