PERFORMING ANIMALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18088, 12 May 1922, Page 6

PERFORMING ANIMALS.

KINDNESS AN ESSENTIAL. TEOUPB OF DTYING PONIES. The Select Committee of the Hotisty of Commons on performing animals recently heard the evidence of Mr. Everard B. Calthrop, consulting engineer, and author of " The Horse as a Comrade and a Friend." Mr. Calthrop claimed that sometime* horses had intelligence superior to that of men. There w.is no need for the use of cruelty either in training horses or m nutting them through their performance. The use of the whip in circua rings was not bo kit the animals but to indicate time. He had seen performances by animals in ail parta of the worldj and the only occasion he remarked any cruelty was once in Berlin, and even there the audience strongly protested against it. Mr. Calthrop tald of a troupe of four diving ponies, which at their performances went up an inclined plank to a diving hoard inside~th« circua tent above a tank. They were not forced in the slighteiit degree. On getting to the diving-board the pony would survey the audienc6 calmly and excite their interest by going to the edge erf the board and drawing back. Then ; each in turn would dive into the tank. The first thing they did afterwards was to trot up to tha trainer for lumps of angar and then trot roitnd the ring, "showing off" to the audience. Answering the chairman, Mr. Calthrop said those particular ponies acquired the art of diving quite naturally. They were brought up on a ranch, and one of them first started to dive and swim in the river. Ho seemed to have taught the others. Mr. CaJthron said that it was impossible to train dogs by cruelty to da things voluntarily. Ho did not think it was possible to train wild animals without coercion, although when once trained they would probably do their performances with pleasure. Domestic animals, however, could only be trained by kindness, and they entered into their performances with zest and pleasure. That was his whole experi- ! ence. Usually the wild animals trained , wore cubs horn in captivity. Tt was about, a thousand to one that a fully-grown lion could ever be trained at all. He had tried to train jackals in India, and had them about six months, but it was hopeless. Mr. Seddon r You have had a life-long exnerienco with animals of all kinds. Ts ! the knowledge you have gained that, cruelty in training defeats its own object?— Absolutely. ____________