The Hawera Star. MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1925. ANIMAL WELFARE WEEK.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 26 October 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1925. ANIMAL WELFARE WEEK.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangat-oki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Heremere, Fraser Road, and Ararata.

Observance of an annual Animal Welfare Week is an established practice in England and America, and ' for some years now' a band of enthusiasts connected with the Society for the Preservation of Cruelty to Animals has been -working to achieve similar recognition for the society in this country. The present week —from Sunday, October 25, to Saturday, October 31 — is that chosen for this year’s effort, and an attempt is being made to enlist the support of teachers and parents in bringing before, children the need for kindly, wise and considerate treatment of defenceless creatures. While it should not be necessary to plead for those w T ho cannot plead fop themselves, unhappily it is; and the activities of those behind the Animal Welfare Week jmovement are deserving of every en 'couragemcnt. Animals have rights, just as humans have, and it is desirable that children should be taught to respect those rights. But, w’hile the teaching of kindness in the schools -is to be commended, the fact- must be acknowledged that- children on the whole are less in need of such training than are many adults. It seems sometimes that the spirit of cruelty is highly developed in boys; but that is a kink rather than a natural trait, and the normal boy, especially the farm boy, who has to do with animals from his earliest years, is disposed to-treat them well, while his sister would spoil them utterly if she had her way. Unfortunately, however, the example of adults is not always in keeping with child-

Ten’s ideas of tho treatment due to animals; and it is to be feared that teaching given in the schools is occasionally undone, if not in the home, at least, about the home. But it' would be wholly unfair to suggest any such thing as systematic practice of cruelty; ignorance and thoughtlessness explain much. What is wanted, then, is a campaign to banish ignorance and provoke thought, and this would be assisted by the institution of an annual Welfare Week. Inasmuch as kindness to animals and considerate treatment of those around us are largely complementary virtues; it is really in the true interests of boys and girls themselves, and of their homes, that they be given some training along the lines indicated, while the road to less cruelty in the next adult generation lies through the schools of the present. And, -as the standard of the individual is raised in this way, we may expect a general change of public opinion in the direction of making life less terrible for some of the lesser living things. There are some forms of sport, for instance, which arc not altogether t'o our credit.. We look upon cock-fighting as belonging to the ugly past, and associate bull-fighting only with one of the fallen nations of Europe, yet in New Zealand our gun clubs still practise live pigeon-shoot-ing, notwthstanding that, in England, it has for several years back been prohibited by law.