MAN’S BEST FRIEND

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7852, 14 July 1911, Page 5

MAN’S BEST FRIEND

NOT WANTED WHEN OLD. SrECXAL TO THE "TIMES.” CHRISTCHURCH, July 18. Mr W. H. Zouch, inspector of the Society for the Prevention, of Cruelty to Animals, has made some startling disclosures in regard to the methods adopted by the heartless owners of old horses for the disposal' of their faithful friends when their usefulness had departed. Mr Zouch gave a “ Lyttelton Times ” reporter a number of instances of neglect and cruelty, and said that the state of tilings was becoming so alarming that ho was almost at his wits’ end to know what to do with the cases that cropped up almost daily. He spoke of many oases in which horses which had faithfully served their owners were turned out to die on the roadside when their services were no longer worth anything, and told most pitiful tales of those which he had been compelled, in common humanity, to destroy. “X have, on an average,” said _ Mr Zouch, “about three horses a week to destroy, and the number is steadily on the increase. The matter is really getting very serious, and I do not know ■what to do in some cases when I receive a number of calls' in one day. The practice of the men who have not enough decency to recognise that a horse has done good work for them is to turn the animals out on the road and there let them roam until they drop from exhaustion, or until a kindly informs the authorities that they require dispatch. If the public could only see some of the wretched specimens that I have to destroy they would realise what shocking things are perpetrated in the heart of Christchurch. There is no adequate provision for dealing with the animals that tlie cruel people of this city ill-treat, and until there is some properly organised system outside the hands of the voluntary body for which I am inspector, and which is controlled by a responsible authority, there will never bo an end to the sights and the suffering t hat are a disgrace to our civilisation.”