The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-03-18
FIendIsh Cruelty to Animals.

To the Editor of the Pacific Commercial advertiser:
SIR Il am not aware whether or not there is a
statute in this country against cruelty to animals;
if not there is need of one. IF there is one, l desire
to call your attention, and that of the gentleman
whose duty it may be to enforce such law. to the
most diabolical case of cruelty to helpless dumb brutes
which ever came to my knowledge. aA4A4 p.
/ saw yesterday seven borrowed, or hired cows,
returned to their owner, from the milking pen Of a
Portuguese in Manoa Valley, two Of which had
calves some week or two old, looking gaunt and
starved, bat with a good degree of flesh and strength
evidently received, from their mother before they
were born, -or at least before they fell into the
hands of this demon A third calf some two or three
months old with a large handsome frame, inherited
from IA large and beautiful looking mother, IN good
condition, was 50 emaciated, evidently from starva-
ton, as to walk with difficulty both this and the
4th some three or four months old,-a CHASTITY skele-
ton held together by a shrinken hide and sinews, had
to be helped out of the g pen - where they had just
received the pitiful meal allowed them but once in
ttOenty four hours.
Upon enquiring for the calves of the other cows,
the answer was 8 they are dead yes, dead from
sheer starvation and cruelty most undoubtedly, as
the COWS were all in good condition, one in particular
was pointed out by the man who MIXED her as giving
an extra quantity of milk. -
1 saw another COW with q calf some five or six
months old which had been returned to the owners
pasture, and which upon being driven out with its
mother, fell repeatedly, from exhaustion, and was
left by the Wayside within a fourth of a mile of the
pasture the other four travelled about half u mile
and were left until an express wagon was obtained
from town to carry them to their mothers who were
being driven to another pasture. p
This-man, l was about to say, but l think
brute more appropriate ,-has as l am informed, had
the loan of several herds of cows upon condition OF
their having. proper care,-his giving the increase,
and a certain quantity of milk daily,-to the owners
One of these owners. whose attention has lately been
called to the fact that the increase was little or moth
ing, informs me that this Portuguese has taken some
fifty cows aud calves from his pasture during the last
two years, and upon driving in,' he finds but
seven animals under two years old. and a number of
the cows missing. which one can readily believe after
seeing the skeletons which lay near the pen of said
Portuguese, and the bones that whiten his pasture.
In cities of other civilized countries, if a man
having his patience exhausted by n sullen, balky
horse, or allows his passion to prevail for the moment
In consequence of some vicious trick of said horse,
and falls to beating him, he is at once arrested and
punished, but in my estimation his offence bears no
comparison to that of one who ties or shuts up young
and inoffensive animals and takes their life by a pro-
cess of slow starvation.
The man who gets up at the dead hour of night
cold stormy ones at that,-goes deliberately to his
g pen - and from motives of pure avarice takes the
food from the mouths of Gagged animals, which he
kno0s are suffering intensely from hunger and cold,
whether his neighbours or his own, and continues to
do it night after night, month after month, till death
ends their MISERY'S no man,-he is q deSpicable,
nearIlesS brute F; IL ne mas n Soul u II y munlteSltnal
in size that ten thousands like it might wander upon
the point of my pen forever, without meeting were
it the act of a moment, while his blood boiled from
any cause as mine does in thinking of his brutality.
l could forgive him and leave him out of sight, but l
have good reason to believe it has long been his prac-
tlce, and that there are others of his nationality who
are guilty of similar cruelty. know il has been a
long, cold, stormy winter also know that fact is
not sufficient to account for the frightful loss of COWS,
calves in care of Portuguese on some of the ranches in
this vicinity. A friend of mine who has during the
past winter MIXED about half the number of cows
said to have been MIXED at this spen,'' and whose
cows and calves are exposed to quite as severe
weather.-to my knowledge, has not lost one cow or
cows and calves may be counted by scores. l know
not the name of this savage from the Western Islands,
never saw his face to know it, but there are others,
who are familiar with both, and quite as cognizant of
the above facts as OBSERVER.
March 10th, 1870.
lin response to the enquiry of our correspondent,
we will state that Chapter "a of the Penal Code
covers the subject of cruelty to animals. A COM
plant, brought by a party cognizant. in the usual
way under the statute, would bring the matter into
Court. The following is the law
whoever shall cruelty beat, torment or inhict suffering
upon any horse, OK, mule or other animal belonging to another,
shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labor not more
NAL belongs TO the offender. he shall be punished by a fine Of
So for the first ofense, and an additional fine Of $5 for every
ofense; and in default of payment Of any such 1nes
shall be imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding thirty days"I
An Instance of Medical Practice. |
Mr.. EDITOR AS a general thing, 1 think the
practice Of reporting in the newspapers what takes