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8 Info. Rep.: Animal Welfare Inst. 1 (1959)

handle is hein.animal/awiqu0008 and id is 1 raw text is: 11NF: RNAMUMN January-February, 1959 The following editorial from the British Veterinary Journal of February, 1959, is reprinted with the kind permission of the editors. ANIMALS AND CHILDREN Men and the domesticated mammals are built according to the same basic design. In spite of this there are great differences in form and function for, during the process of time, modifications have been made in order to fit the various animals to their environment, sentient reactions, and mode of life. Speaking in broad biological terms probably the greatest matter of difference between these animals and man is centered in the nervous system for homo sapiens is blest, there are some who say he is cursed, with the qualities of thought and reason and speech. All the animals are sentient to a great degree. They can ex- perience fear, flush with anger and be imbued with greed, jealousy and covetousness, and these things may so upset the even balance of their lives that their emotional reactions are manifested in acts of physical strife and even cruelty. Under other circumstances emotional response can be ex- pressed in the tender attributes of solicitude and kindness, or it may lead to the exhibition of the qualities of courage and endurance. Since the very dawn of civilization, which was conceived when man acquired fortuitously the power to think and reason and the ability to express his thoughts in coherent speech, it has been recognised, but not always implemented, that the path to a higher state depended upon the control and elimination of evil things and the enhancement of those which were of good intent. Some men are born to be kind and gentle, others can be trained or directed on to the right path and there are some who will fail to respond to any approach. There is evidence to show that the average man is more gentle in nature and kinder in spirit than his ancestors were. Acts of cruelty which gave cause for the expression of horror and consternation in 1959 would have occasioned little or no comment a hundred years ago. On the surface it would seem that this mellowing of the spirit has been actuated by the advancement of the standard of general education and the spread of civilisation. Such a premise is not correct by any means. Acts of cruelty are not perpetrated always by those from the ranks of the vulgar untutored mob. The training of the mind and the accumulation of knowledge does not necessarily imply that the culture and enhance- ment of the things, of the heart or spirit advance in due proportion. The reverse may occur. An excited and en- thusiastic searcher for factual information can become so obsessed with his task that he may ignore or sweep aside all those things which halt or impede the progress to his ultimate goal. These can include any thought for the wel- fare 6f his fellows and especially those things which stem from spirit or sentiment. The ideal state would be one in which the advance- ment of knowledge in the philosophical and scientific (Continued on page 4) ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE 22 EAST 17th STREET, NEW YORK 3, N. Y. Vol. 8 No. I PAINFUL POISON DECIMATING WILDLIFE Everyone who is interested in protecting wildlife should read the article on poison-spreading in the January issue of Nature Magazine, Uncontrollable 'Control' by Mar- guerite Angelo Smelser. Reprints of this article are avail- able free on request from the Animal Welfare Institute. The article deals with only one type of poison, but its message applies clearly to poison programs generally. Such is the current passion for poison, the author begins, that yearly, upon millions of American acres, Federal and State agencies are spreading tons of grain and meat impregnated with the most spectacularly deadly poison known to man: Sodium fluoroacetate. Commonly called Compound 1080, this all-killing poison was developed by chemists during the second world war when red squill was hard to get. So extremely toxic is 1080 that minute amounts kill, and it possesses an annihilative chain action destructive to all wildlife. 'Unfortuate that 1080 was ever discovered,' writes a noted research biologist. The fully documented information which follows tells a shocking story of mass destruction of all types of wild- life by this agonizing poison: geese, coyotes, deer and small animals, not to mention the domestic animals and humans who have also succumbed. The astonishing lengths to which the official poisoners go to conceal the effects of their programs are detailed concisely, a great variety of (Continued on page 3) CONGRESSMAN BARING MOVES TO OUTLAW MOTORIZED PURSUIT OF WILD HORSES Cruel persecution of the last remaining mustangs of the West will be prevented by enactment of H.R. 2725, introduced in the United States House of Representatives by the Hon. Walter S. Baring of Nevada. The bill would prohibit the use of aircraft or motor vehicles to hunt wild horses or burros on land belonging to the United States. It was introduced January 19th, and a report from the Department of the Interior is awaited. The bill is pending before the House Judiciary Committee. During the past eight years, it is estimated that 100,000 wild horses have been killed with extreme brutality in Nevada alone. There are only about 20,000 mustangs left in the entire West, according to the Department of the Interior. Through the efforts of Mrs. Velma Johnston of Wadsworth, Nevada, a state law protecting the horses was passed in 1955 in Nevada, but since 80%/r of Nevada's land is owned by the federal government, national legis- lation is essential to protect the horses there and also in other Western States. Mrs. Johnston writes of the capture of the horses: The methods employed are cruel beyond belief, Driven at

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