TREATMENT OF SHEEP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18563, 22 November 1923, Page 12

TREATMENT OF SHEEP.

METHOPB AT ADOtNOTON.

ALLEGED CRUELTY DENIED.'

To '■ some ) members of the : Canterbury branch of the ") Prevention' of iCSraeliyslo Animals it has appeared that the present method of • auctioning sheep at Addington involves a certain > amount of j cruelly. > It is stated, for example, that sheep railed from Galverfen as* an the trucks all day without food and for the greater.part of each Wednesday they go ■ food-less. It Is considered ; that apart from any question iof ?' cruelty, tide; must interfere with the; condition of "the : sheep. '. . In place of the present -system it ■** suggested that the sheep should be : railed direct to the f freezing v«" works - 5 and slaughtered as soon as possible, and then either auctioned on the hooks, or shipped by the freezing companies on behalf of the owners. When there is V a -largo sale at Addington it is possible, so the members of the S.P.O.A. interested in the matter say, the sheep are not slaughtered till Friday. By the adoption of the sug- j gestion made this delay would be y cut down, at least by half. -:': ( ' y ' '■*. ■' \ I When the opinion of Mr. Henry Macdonald, one of the most experienced stock auctioneers at Addington, was sought on the proposition, he-had- no ; hesitation in stating that it was'uW J-ly < impracticable. He did 1 not think that sheep suffered much from being deprived of food for 24 or 36 - hours. n Instances were not unknown of sheep having been buried in snow for five or six weeks and r having survived- ; In : the pens at the Addington yards the ! sheep got' water. He did not think that j the' members of * the j 5.P.0.A., who made the : suggestion, knew : ve*y much about the manner *in which the stock business was run, or (hev- would hoVfhave?* suggested such ett impracticable'propfeal. Mr. W. 0. Campbell, of the New Zealand! Refrigerat inq Company, also expressed the opinion that , the proposition was not within the:rangedof the practicable. 1 If there was anything in the suggestion that sheep ;• lost condition as the result of having' no food" while ! being railed to the yards, he thought that it would ; have been -\ discovered n long . ago, and* steps taken, to ; remedy the : matter. But'' the general experience was, he believed, that the. sheep, after having been driven -from the'■, yards to the works, arrived in good condition. He ; remarked that'' stock were often railed longer distances than from Culverden, r and did not appear much the worse ' for their deprivation of , food. v A practical difficulty in connection with the suggested auctioning on the hooks was that buyers would have to visit several freezing works, which would be, certainly, ' less convenient than the present method.' , ' j .-