ANIMALS' WELFARE WEEK

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1787, 27 July 1926, Page 6

ANIMALS' WELFARE WEEK

ADDRESS BY SIR G. FENWICK. (BROADCASTED FROM 4YA STATION, DUNEDIN. Sir George Fen wick, president of the Otago Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has broadcasted the following message:— I am to-night' making use of the broadcasting privilege accorded me to make an appeal to lovers of animals who are " listiening in" to assist in whatever way lies in their power to make Animals' Welfare Week, which is this year being held between the dates of 25th and 31st July, a period in which the welfare of all dumb animals will receive the active consideration and isolicitude of the higher order of creation.

Through the Otago ministers of religion, teachers in our public schools, superintendents of Sujnday schools, and the press, it is gratifying to those who watch actively the good work to know 'tlhat very warm interest was awakened in this praiseworthy movement. It is fortunately the case that men and women als a rule have the spirit of kindness implanted in their breasts, and that the cruel and callous are, by comparison, but a small part of the community. And yet those men and women—perhaps I should say men on ly_ w ho must unhappily be ranged, in the latter category, have to be reckoned with, and their cruel practices made the subject of remonstrance and less frequently of prosecution at the hands of the societies which have taken the welfare of dumb animals under their care.

There is probably hard'ly one of you " listening in " who has not witnessed acts; of cruelty to our best friends of the lower order—the horse the bullock, the cow, the dog, the cat, domestic poultry, or the- gentie pigeon, shot so as to provide sport for marksmen are frequently-recurring matched.

There are two forms of cruelty—'the active and the passive. It is the former that comes the more frequently under the notice of the inspectors of societies for the prevention of cruelty and of the public, such as the thrashing and kicking of horses that are expected to pull heavy loads up-hill, the riding of horses with girth-galls and sore bacWs that cause incessant and acute pain, the unmercifuil riding or driving of horses for long distances until they almost drop from exhaustion, and so on. Worse still is the vicious and deliberate maiming of horses and other animals by fiends in human form about which we constantly read in the newspapers—a crime that a well-regulated mind utterly fails to understand. Of the less heinous forms of active cruelty there are many 'examples, known to most of us, in which dogs, cats, and, the smaller animals are the helpless victims.

It is to the active cruelty practised on the larger quadrupeds that the reprobation of the public in these lands is directed, and the welfare and kind itreatmient of man's nob'lelst and most useful friend is in the animal world, the horse, justly takes first place in the humane effort of prevention of cruelty societies, the police, and the men and women who have am abhorrence of cruelty to the dumb animals that so largely add to the comfort and pleasure of our lives. The institution of Animals' Welfare Week was a happy idea. It is a means of bringing before the public, through the press, the pulpit, and the platform, and the increased publicity that the wonderful system of wireless broadcasting affords, the claims of our dumb friends of the animal kingdom to kind treatment at our hands. May I then ask all to keep in the forefront of their thoughts dulring the present week an earnest desire to remonstrate with the perpetrators of any acts of cruelty they may witndss and a determination to inculcate in the minds of their fellow s young and old that, spirit of kindness to animals which should, animate every man Avoman, and child in the community? It perhaps will not be considered out of place if I urge the claims to public support of tine various societies throughout New Zealand whose special function is to look after the welfare of the dumb crea-, tion. It is those*societies on which the public rely most largely to create and foster the spirit of kindness to animals and to protect them from the cruel treatment of the callous and heartless. I trust that Animals' Welfare Week will this year create an awakened interest in the fine humanitarian work that has for its object the welfare of the dumb creation.

Of our delightful feathered friends, the birds, how much could be .said of their wonderful beauty and, charm and the pleasure they give mankind! And yet even they are not free from the cruelty that is apparently inherent in human nature. What a pitiful spectacle it is to see a splendid albatross, for example, hauled to the deck of a steamer at sea, the hapless victim of some callous passenger, who has cast overboard a tempting bait with its concealed hook that has accomplished the evil deed. Again, take the pigeon, one of the oldest favourites of mankind, of one whose varied race it is recorded that it came to the Ark with

an olive branch to show that the waters of the flood .had receded,. Probably the best-known pigeon fancier of Ithe day is King George of Great Britain, whose lofts at Sandringham contain the finest racing specimens obtainable.

Thousands of yeaTS before the day of King George another king, Rameseis 111. of Egylpt, gloried in his donations of.pigeons to the temple's of Thebes, ETeliopolis, and Memphis—pigeons that were regarded as sacred, and not to be shot at and destroyed in furtherance of a so-called sport of the present day.How much more rational a sport are the racing matches of the homing pigeon, in Belgium for example where,, these excellent events constitute the national sport. Throughout the racing season thousands of pigeons are sent each week to France and other adjoining countries for the flight back home. The love of pigeons is universal. The common domestic pigeon is found everywhere. The birds mats in pairs and unless separated by men they will remain loyal until death. But thils homely and harmless bird is the victim of so-called sport in pigeon matches where the innocent creatures are slaughtered in a trial of skill that can be more effectively demonstrated by the use of mechanical marks known as clay pigons.

The Otago Socity for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals? —and in the term animals is inclulded the feathered tribe —has for years done what it could to induce the clubs which earry on the alleged sport of pigeon shooting to ado)pt the u!se of clay pigeons and it is to the> credit of the local Gun 'Club that its trials of marksmanship are now usually carried out Avith the aid of the mechanical device. In this connection .may I tender the thanks of the Society to the Hon. G. M. Thomson for his efforts to secure the passing of a Bill to make tlhe use of live pigeons at these matches illegal? Animals' Welfare Week, which is once more with us in New Zealand, is an agency for helping in the good cause of inculcating a love of animals and of strengthening the hands of those who are nalturally kind to their patieint servitora of the lower world and of all God's creatures that come. within the generic name. The ministers, teachers, and others who are helping in the good work merit the thanks of those who have itaken up the case of the dumb creatures in our midst, and I earnestly trust their combined efforts, will be fruitful of good. To all the "listeners in" who have given me their kind, attention may I now express my Avarraest tlhanks, and wish them a friendly good night?