Million British Pets Die

Northern Advocate, 27 April 1940, Page 2

Million British Pets Die

A million cat and dog pets were destroyed in England in the early part of the war. The slaughter was due to owners’j fears Ural evacuation of London and! other large cities, the call-up for war service, and food rationing would make it impossible for them to care for their pets properly. “I saw 80,000 pets buried one night in September,” Colonel Robert Storrey, chief of the A.R.P. Animals Committee, told the “Sunday Express.” “The sight upset even the most hardened vets, who had had war service. “There were queues of people at animal clinics throughout the country, waiting with pets to be destroyed, “The slaughter was unnecessary. My committee looks after pets in wartime. We have 500 vets., who are giving their services free. “Yards Full.” “Our yards were so full with animals that had been destroyed that they could not hold any more. “We chose land under reclamation in the East End as the burial site the night the 80,000 pets were destroyed. “It was the greatest single burial of dead pets I have ever seen. “Many of the pets had first-class pedigrees and were valuable animals.'*