THE TORTURE OF RABBITS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11396, 13 April 1899, Page 8

THE TORTURE OF RABBITS.

TO THI IDITOK. Sin,-—ln your sub-leader of April 8 you hazard tho opinion that, as a rule, rabbits do not nufFcr mutilation when captured in the common rabbit-trap. I fear the rule is-' the other way. I have frequently caught rabbits in traps, and have never found ono so caught whose leg waR not broken. And be that as it may, tho cruelty does not lie in the mero fact of mutilation, for tho pain is inflicted when the trap snaps on the limb of the captive, and whether tho leg is broken or not, the oxquisilo torture suffered is shown by the heartbreaking squeals poor bunny utters for several minutes after being caught. A merciful torpidity of the nervous Bystem seems to follow, and tho rabbit will then patiently fit for hours and days without'apparently suffering any pain,- held to tho trap by, perhapß, the mere skin of the leg. ' ' What the Society. for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should ascertain iB not so much whether rabbits Buffer mutilation or not in tho process of'trapping, as whether the manifest pain they suffer from trapping could not be avoided or lossened hy the use of less cruel instruments.- That the common rabbit trap is an instrument of torture may he easily proved. Let anyone doubting the fact snap off a good new one'oh his fingers. His testimony afterwards will be particularly straightforward.

In rabbit-infested districts callousness to tho sufferings' of the pretty, gentle, harmlesslooking' creature is very prevalent. For, innocent as he looks, his fecundity makes him noxious.' He is so multitudinously mischievous that he is treated ac the common enemy of'mankind. .To human inhabitants it is mero matter of self-preservation. Cease persecuting the rabbit, and humanity may aa . well.emigrate from Otago. But I think it is time human aiid humane ingenuity invented some .less-painful mode of capture than the present method of trapping. The protests of tho wretched -creatures themselves seem to fall.on deaf ears. In this district (Tuapeka), ono'may listen,-on a fine, balmy evening, to tho screams, of; tortured rabbits mingling- discordantly with; the 'melodious notes of blackbirds and-thrushes. Yet one . never hears a word of'compassion for the poor little creatures ivhoso-.agonising cries disturb the peace of the "witching hour" of twilight. Those ear-piercing plaints aro only. a part of the evening's, music. Wagnerian interludes! Mere ill-played: fifes in tho orchestra of Nature!' ' ' J

Any traveller on our trains may observe a proof that the übiquitous and pestiferous rabbit has, through his irrepressible depredations, /forfeited' tho right possessed by other, animals'to the pity of humanity. On the walls - of.' .some 'railway stations may be seen the picture,, evidently enlarged from j a photograph,; of a rabbit held fast to a; trap by the two forelegs.'"The-anguish and mute appeal for pity of t-He suffering animal are most realistically depicted;- This is an advertisement of a superior rabbit trap, and the advertisers, no doubt, correctly judge public opinion in Otrigo when they thus trust thai this image of torture will not hurt the sensibilities, of the-passing observer, but merely call attention to the efficacy of their trap.. Does.the,prominence of such,an, object lesson in cruelty suggest.'tliat.the influence of the S.P.C.A. is wide and deep? Not one of .thpj.least evils of the.prevalence ,of the rabbit pest is the exercise it gives to the cruel instincts\>f the young. Many boys are engaged, in th'etrapping trade, and acquire a callousness "in"dealing with their live stock-in-trade, which is simply appalling. I can vouch, for-this-.,from -personal observation. -Fancy .'a .boy literally tearing a live young rabbit in pieces with his hands, laughing gleefully. at the', fun with his companions at the same.'time. 7 i ' I 'make'no apology for mentioning this. Though the rabbit is a curse to humanity, it is better for. .humanity that his partial de-. , slruotiori should be accomplished with a minimum of cruelty'than'that his total destruction sh^oiilcj be,an..'education in callousness and Karbarity. . •'•'' . ■" . , - .-.-.' I have seen a,description of a trap made of wire-nettine- in the form of a cylinder, with a valve near one'end.'1 This, placed at the burrows, catches the ■-. rabbits, alive in .numbers, andlhey may. then be knocked on the head at once when the trap is visited, i In the meantime they suffer7ll,o pain. Some such device should be adopted instead of the present cruel. instrument, if tNe country people of Otago wish to .earn, a reputation for humanity.—lam, etc., . Blue Spur, April 11. A. W. Tindall.