MAN’S BEST FRIEND.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 123, 17 July 1911, Page 7

MAN’S BEST FRIEND.

Mr W. 11. Zoucu, inspector of the Christchurch 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 things was becoming so alarming that he was almost at his wits’ end to know what to do with the cases that cropped up almost daily. He spoke of many cases 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. “I 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 reallv getting very serious, and 1 do not know what to do in some cases when 1 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 neighbour informs the authorities that they require dispatch. ilfi the public could only see some of , the wretched specimens that 1 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 the cruel people of the city ill-treat, and until there is some properly organised system ouside the hands of the voluntary body for which 1 am inspector, and which is controlled by a responsible authority, there will never be an end to the sights and sufferings that are a disgrace to our civilisation.”