THE COURSING MEETING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11871, 8 June 1909, Page 7

THE COURSING MEETING.

RKPORT TO SOCIKTY FOR PRKVKN TIDX UK ( 11UKLTV TO AXr.MAL-S.

'■.Tin.- report of Mr Robert Tholwall, inspector to the .Society for the Prevention- of Cruelty to Animals, referred to m tho letter of .Mr 11. M. Porter, secretaiy to the sodety, m our last issue, is a.s follows :—- --"(Jisborne, 7th Juno, -1909. ')Tho President., P.CaA. Society, ; Gisborne. "Dear sir, — I beg to lay before you so me facts relating to the recent coursing meeting held m Gisborne. As you are aware, as soon as 1 learned that the Uisborne Coursing Club had decided to hold a coursing meeting, 1 called your committee together to decide what could be done m the matter. Your committee recognised that the Jaw .allowed coursing, and all we could ch> \vas to see that there ,wa« no wilful cruelty. 'On tho 31st nit. tho following letter wax written to the 'secretary of the Coursing Club :■• 'Dear sir,- — In reference to your meeting on 3rd and 4tih piox., I am directed hy the executive of this iSociety to 'inform you that, while it regrets that enclosed: coursing is not- at present illegal, the law does not countenance iuiy .acts of unnecessary cruelty, and if .such take place the Society Avill prosecute. The Society's inspector has been directed to be present^ iind if m his opinion, and that of competent judges, such cruelty happens, action will follow. The Society has no desire to act m an arbitrary manner, and therefore sends this precautionary letter, but on principle oannot countenance anj T cruelty to dumb animals.'

1 l> On Thursday, June 3rd (the first day of the coursing) I proceeded to the grounds vand examined the, conditions m order to ascertain what precautions had been taken to prevent cruelty to the hares.

"I made various ; suggestions to check possible cruelty, and the.se . were given effectj to by the committee. I found that some of the hares were % too weak to xiin the course, and was asked by the .secretary to act as ly&re- steward. This I declined to do, but agreed to notify the club's official when I considered a hare was too weak. I did this m every 'case, but I regret to say that this official, evidently m. the excitement, lost his head on some occasions, anil lowered his flag against my instructions, with the result thai the tiai-es were immediately caught by the dogs and killed. "On other occasions the slip steward failed ■: to ■ recognise that the flag Was hoiftted, and also mi the excitement of the moment, slipped the clogs on. to the weak hares ; arid' ori other occasions the dogs were- slipped -'too quickly, ..and. brt three- -or four occasions the dog. 1 * ' broke away too soon on account of the coupling not. being properly adjusted ; on each of these occasions the hare had no chance to .escape, and' was caught and killed, | owing no doubt; 'to. the fact that this was the first coursing meeting held m Gisborne, andf' the officials were ignorant of the method of arranging a, course. "Tlie percentage of kills was very much 'heavier than it should have been, 23 hares being killed out of ' about 40 courses, 'while tho number of hares killed a,t Auckland \vaa only six for two days, and only three were killed at the last Wellington meeting. ' "t 'might give you some of the reasons why so many of -the deaths occurred; ut the- flisliorne- .'meeting. . In th>e , first place, m addition to the weak hares already referred to, the majority of the hares were new tr> the .escapes, having been brought from . the .South Mand the previous week, wheni they should have been trained -to .-run to the .escapes . for at least six weeks or two months. "Another reason that 'Jed to so : many kills* was that immediately on being released from theii: boxes* their attention was attracted by the refreshment tent immediately m front of tJierri and by the public stand a little -further on. and so terrified the hares that they did not see the dogs until they were on them. '•Even when the hares reached the brush of the escapes they were not safe, for m some instances, through the brush being so thin the dogs followed the hares through, and brought, them buck to be again coursed, •■ The escape holes were not sufficiently numerous to let the hares through, instead of a few holes the escapes should run the full width of the course. , "In> conclusion, I maghfy state that coursing undier any condition is, m my opinion, cruel, and doe's x not tend to .raise the moral of those who either take part m it or patronise it. However, it is a legal "sport," and until made illegal by legislation, Are can only act' as arbitrators between the "aport" and cruelty.. ; I ''If wilful cruelty is practised we can step m if, m the opinion of the P.C.A. Society. • the actions, of the Coursing Club officials constitute . cruelty, andi 1 am ' quite prepared to take action."