Women And Animals

Mr. Charles II. Hankson, superintendent of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animáis, said the otlier day: "The only logal contest we have now is the legacy of Miss Wilton, of $200,000. Her 'iniciéis contnsting the will on the ground of hor alleged insanity. Thero is uo doubt, 1 think, that wc will get the monoy. She used to como to the offico many a tiiue and ', talk to me. She sed to report lame and unblankcted horscs. The society takes cognizance of unblanketed horscs, and our ofiicers would uccompany her to tho places where the law had been violated. Sho used also to report cases of siok dogs and cats, and of old canary birds. She left the legacy because of her love for animáis "An old Germán ivoman living in , Rivingtou street, often comes lo us with sick cats. Sho gathers np all the destitue tabbies she can find and : brings them to us. Yet once when I accosted by a beggar in front of our ollice she Dccamo very indignant and refuscd to help that human being. Sho will carry a dog or a cat to our ; office on auy day, even if it is troublcd with mango. Some people like cats ana dogs; others would come threc miles to inform us where there is a lame norse. A tramp dog won't ! lovv a man, but some women who are ; out shopoing will get the animal to follow thom to our oflice. A French . wonian in Bleechcr street has a partiality forcats. An Engüshwonian up town has n partiality for birds. If she finds any suftering from cold she will teil us of it, and if we fiud the couiplaint to be well founded we clean tho enge or remove the bird from any chance of overcrowding." "Do you think that a bird bred in a cagc desires freedom?" "No. I havo a bird of my own that will go out of an open window" and chirp and come back. I don't think the eagles at Central park suffer from imprisonment. They might at tirst, but do not now. When a man has l ceived a large consignment of canary birds we often send an oflicor down to him, and he has them transforred into a large cage. "About vivisection, the persons who aro authorized to vivisect animáis are only professors in medical colleges. Ii a medical student vivisccls an animal in his own room he is Hable to imprisonment." "Does an animal sufler asmucli as a human being?" "Yes; fully as much onder similar circum-tances. A bulldog is one of the uglie3t tempered of animáis. One was run over a short time ago and was brought iuto our oflice. We havo a colored man who can control any dog by his kindness. The bulldog allowcd the man to dress his limbs, and it showed bv signs iust where it was in pain." " "What animal has the highest intelligence?" "That is hard to say. Some say horsea, others dogs, others cats. Take trained dogs. Well, most of them ara curs. ' Trainers can not train a fullbloodod dog. l've had curs brought into the oflice that would resent kindness. 'We take all sorts of chances. We hear that soventcen or eightcen horses are Rtarving. Instead of going to.court and getting a warrant we go straight to the stable. If wc lind tho story correct tliB owner is Hable as a witness. Tho forernan is Hable to imprisonment for cruelty. Cruelty to animáis as a üastime is essentially domoralzing. In dog fights that I have raided 1 havearrested boys who have stolen from thoir raothers in order to get money to bet. If the betting was prohibited by law, then cruelty to animáis would be diminished. If a horse is overdriven at race?, and wc Bad that he shows evidences of being overdriven, we niake arrests. "Mr. Bonner is in sympathy with the society, but hc objects to our objection to clipping horses. We think that horscs should not be clippedat, the begiuningof thecoid weather. Dooking horscs' tails we object to, becauso the process causes great pain auddeprivos the animal of lts natural protoction against llies. It is ouly a matter of fashion. If it were a fashion to havo long tails and long manes and no check-reins, the fashion would be followod. There is no special law against check-reins. But the courts always uphold us in considcring them as a means of torture. We object to spurs only when a man shows that he doosn't know how to use them. If there is any evidence of his uunecessarily (ligging th horso wc arrest him. I think in time spurs will be entirely done away with. "The horso is more abused than any other animal. The most common abuse is the galling of a sore. Thero is no objection to his working f the wound is propcrly protected. Then we have lame horses. Those are the dillicult cases to treat. We have no trouble as to the honesty of our agents. They have the power of arrest for any offensc conjmitteel in thcir prescuce. Any other citizen has the same right. We handle, on the averago, about seventy-five cases a day. Men are not as active as women in inforiniug onr society about abuses of animáis. The aggregato amouut of money lef t to the society by women is largor than by men. The question of coniparative cruelty of the two sexes is a delicate one. I have known women who have been mighty kind to animáis and verv cruel