OLD HORSES AND THE SPANISH WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 27, 31 July 1937, Page 29

OLD HORSES AND THE SPANISH WAR

The Spanish war has completely stopped the kindly work of the Dumb Friends League, which is endeavouring to end the sufferings of British Army;horses, many of them Australian, .which..were .left in Belgium after the Great War (writes the London correspondent of the Sydney "Sun").

Normally the league would'pay from £7 to £.13 each for them, but values have soared fo such an .extent that the unfortunate beasts will have to go on suffering until conditions are more normal.

Spanish Government and rebel agents are vying with each other in buying horses,-no matter what their condition, says, the league. Those :that are able to carry a burden become packhorses; those that are not, become food for the troops. , ■

Agents are operating in England, Scotland, and Ireland also, : the league declares, the animals being shipped to the Continent and thence finding their way into Spain.

Even without this development, the league is faced with a difficulty not encountered by Mrs. Geoffrey Brookes when she bought.up all the old army horses in Egypt six ypars ago—a horse in Belgium is worth money, no matter if his aged legs can hold him no longer.

His age does not matter much, because an old horse is a lean horse, and lean meat is wanted for sausages. For that reason, horses, before slaughtering, are kept on a wasting diet of water alone. Often the animals are so weak they can hardly walk to the abattoirs. .

Between 00,000 and 70,000 horses and mules—including Australian transportanimals—were sold by the Disposals Board to Belgian peasants after the war. • . . .

Investigations last October led to

shocking revelations. Aged animals were found to be still in harness, living in utter misery, worn out with overwork and lack of food.

Pictures taken by league officers and British Pressmen show-.the -pitiful condition of the animals; all of: them more than twenty-five years old, who went through the war with the British troops and were left to the rigors of a hard life in Flanders. ■

One horse was found to have dropped between ■ the shafts of a former German army road cart. It:-was pulling nearly two tons of stone in addition to the weight of the cart, which was built to be drawn by two horses.

Out of the 474 animals so far "rescued" all but 32 had to be destroyed. Three bore the brands of Australian army units. " ...

""' Seventeen' horses and three mules have, been returned.to England. The others are convalescing in. the rich pastures of the estate' of the' Duchess of de Croy.. ... .

There are still 1700 authentic cases of British army horses in service in Belgium. ' . .

The British .Government, however, is taking action which will prevent more British horses being, condemned to. suiTering in their old age.

The Exportation. of Horses Bill, which was given its second reading in the House of Lords recently, will close loopholes in the law by which partially worn-out horses may still be exported.

Viscount Buckmaster said members must have seen. the sort of brutal treatment frequently meted out to animals abroad.

Government support for the Bill was promised by. the Earl, of ■ Faversham, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of 'Agriculture.. .-.' : .