The Under Dog: a Series of Papers by Various Authors on the Wrongs Suffered by Animals at the Hand of Man

Abstract

APART from the main title, which is much more suitable for a novel, and utterly fails to convey the faintest inkling as to the nature of its subject, the editor and authors of this volume are to be congratulated on the fair and temperate manner in which they have brought their case before the court of public opinion. Pain and suffering are unfortunately inseparable from the lot of many kinds of domesticated animals, as well as of those wild species which are hunted for sport or for their spoils; but it is the bounden and paramount duty of all civilised nations to see that these are reduced to the smallest possible minimum. Those who read this book—and it is, for the most part, at any rate, very painful reading—will, however, be convinced that even in our own country matters too often are by no means as they should be in this respect. In fact the authors have, unhappily, in many instances, a very strong, and in almost every instance a very sad, case; and it is sincerely to be hoped that their book may be the means of bringing to pass a better state of affairs in regard to our treatment of the lower animals in such cases as amendment and amelioration are most urgent and at the same time practicable. Apart from the ruthless slaughter of birds for their plumage—accompanied too frequently by the lingering starvation of their helpless young—one of the worst and most pitiable cases in the whole sad story is the treatment meted out to worn-out horses; and it must indeed be a hardened heart which is not rent by the illustrations depicting these wretched animals on their last journeys. Fortunately, several European Governments are already awake to the need of stringent measures to remedy this crying evil, and we trust the present volume may give a further stimulus to their efforts.

The Under Dog: a Series of Papers by Various Authors on the Wrongs Suffered by Animals at the Hand of Man.

Edited by S. Trist. Pp. xv + 203 + v. (London: Animals' Guardian Office, 1913.) Cloth, 3s. 6d.; paper, 1s.