KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 72, 24 February 1932, Page 4

KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—ln view of the fact that this week the S.P.C.A. are making an effort to bring before the public the need for kindness to animals, I would like, through your columns, to make known the following:—On Sunday, while motoring through, the Manawatu Gorge, I came across two kittens that had been abandoned. They were far too small to fend for themselves, and would have died a lingering death had they not been rescued. They were just tiny bundles of. bones and fur, nothing more. Surely people must know of some more humane method of getting rid of their pet* when they tire of them than abandoning them. Even if they cannot bring themselves to shoot or drown, PaL merston North has its lethal chamber where, for a small fee, animals can be painlessly destroyed. It hardly seems conceivable that any. decent person would intentionally abandon any domesticated animal. Domesticity makes an animal dependent on the individual, and it seems poor reasoning to expect it to revert to the wild state of its ancestors after abandoning it, young and helpless. In conclusion, let me say, this is the third lot of kittens I have rescued from the Gorge since Christmas, and brought home to destroy humanely. We all know it is impossible to keep every kitten bom into the world, so why not drown them as soon as they arrive. It would save, from such a lot of misery, a dumb creature that cannot help itself.—l am, etc., J. TAYLOR, Ferguson Street, Palmerston North.