CORRESPONDENCE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11785, 7 October 1901, Page 1

CORRESPONDENCE.

We aie not responsible for the opinions expressed by correspondents. The writer's name, as a guarantee of good faith, must be enclosed in the letter.]

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

TO THE EDITOE

Sir, — At times we hear of cases of neglect to feed auimala by keeping the poor beasts in a close pen fora long time being taken up by the police and the offenders properly punished. But, sir, there are numerous instances of cruelty of almost daily occurrence that no one appears to take sufficient notice of, and I refer to travellers on horseback, some of whom, whilst taking the utmost care of their own carcases, act as though the poor beast that carries them has no need of nourishment from morning till night. At a country hotel yesterday a. fair sample of such cases was afforded. A man on horseback rode up at dinner time, hitched his horse to a post and left the poor animal there, whilst he (the rider) went to dinner, and that being over, the poor animal with neither bite nor sup was again mounted and sent along for another twenty miles or so. If the law cannot be brought to bear on such cases as this, surely public opinion should make itself heard, in the interests of the poor horses who so materially help to ease life of some of its burdens, and to expose to censure such offenders against humanity as he of whom I now write, and who is by no means a solitary offender. It is also quite open to question whether the coudition of some of the dairy herds in the district are not fit rases for either the police or the Stock Inspector to enquire into, the one object of the owners of such animals apparently being to obtain as much milk as possible even if the poor cows perish for want of proper nourishment. — I am, etc.,