Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-07-12
Cru ELTY OF THE COW BOYS.
Cattie-Breeding on the PIains-A
school of Observation-Disclosures 10
Dumb Animals for the PROFIT OF
Christian Owners.

CHRISTIAN owners.
The history of cattle-breeding ON the
plains and in the mountain valleys Is
one of cruelty to dumb animals.
Thousands and thousands Of cattle are
annually frozen and starved to death
on these wind-swept plains, because
their owners believe and assert that ii
is cheaper to have them die than TO
provide food and shelter for them. For
the suffering these cattle endure be
fore death relieves them, no stock
breeder cares at all. They are equally
Indifferent TO the money loss resulting
from their deaths. CallousnesS of
heart is an essential qualification fora
le-breeder who feeds his herd on
plains of high altitude OF the wick
edness of the men who assume charge
of horned stock and drive them into a
country where numbers of them Starve
to death. or die Of raging thirst in the
winter. when the water holes are froz-
EN-, gor freeze to death during Arctic
like storms. | have something to say.
If farmer living in the valley of the
Hudson should treat his stock as cattle
are treated on the plains, a howl of
virtuous indignation would resound
throughout the Empire State,
and the inhuman owner would be bit
terly prosecuted in the courts He
would be taught that animals have
rights and that ownership does not
give the right to torture All men
who have, in the spring, seen the
weak thin COWS of the plains-cows
that have raised calves and bear an
other at the same time standing shiv-
eringly, with hanging heads, and with
the death stare in their Sunken eyes,
in the lee of willow bushes or by
widespread rails in fences, seeking
protection from the cutting northern
blasts, have had their hearts wrung.
These cows are patiently waiting for
the kind hand of death to release
them from the cruel ownership of in
human man Their dead carcaSses
mutely protest against the outrageous
abuse of ownership that is practiced
ON the grazing-grounds of the west
Men who cheerfully, yes eagerly,
assist by word of mouth and gifts of
money in suPpressing all exhibitions
of cruelty to animals in the streets of
New York embark in enterprises of
cattle breeding on the plains, where
more cruelty is practiced in one day
in a single herd than is witnessed IN
all the streets of all the cities of the
union Ii a wear. The cattle-breeding
companies that are now springing into
corporate existence all over this cOun-
try should be openly incorporated, for
instance. as The Great Western
Collaborating company, lncorpo-
rated for the purpose of starving,
freezing, and killing weak cattle by
thirst in arid regions of high altitude
and intense cold, in the hope that the
stronger cattle, that are able to with
stand the abuse, grazing on untaXed
ground, will protitably pay the in
vestolS.
| have seen Billiards on the plains
that swept through u man who was
clad in heavy woolens and fur over
garments as though he was dressed in
tarlatan. | have known parties of
buffalo hunters, men used TO hard
ship, and whose stomachs were filled
with buffalo marrow and who were
wrapped in blankets and robes, to
freeze to death in their wagons while
endeavoring to escape from the unen-
durable. lev blasts, of an Arctic like
blizzard Cattle, weak and ill-fed on
frost bitten grass, disappear before
these storms. They drift with the
wind. AS they pass by the air is fill
ed with the sound of their mournful
moaning. They wander staggerlngly
along over the trackleSs plains, vainly
endeavoring to find water with which
to quench the intense thirst produced
by exceeding cold weather The wa
ter holes are frozen The weaker cat
tie drop out of the herd They lie
down to die. The snow drifts around
them. They aru freezing to death
and are still consumed by raging
fever. The wolves attack them as
they lie on the frozen ground unable
to rise, unable to protect themselves.
The CRY of despair uttered by the
wretched animals when they realize
that the horrible death Of being eaten
alive by carniverous animals Is their
doom, is an unearthly one AS the
peculiar below of an animal when it
finds the scene of the blood OF one OF
its fellows on the ground eXcites the
herd with the information Here
one Of us has been slain and renders
them mmanageable. 50 does the death
cry Of feeble cow brighten the drift
ing herd. They disappear down the
wind. The wolves close i'm on the
doomed animal She struggles des-
pcrately to arise, in vain The hun
gl'y wolves attack her They tear her
open. They drag her entrails out and
devour them before her eyes. She
dies. and the wolves pick her bones
and then gallop after the herd
The reported losses of 3. l. or per
cent of "a cattle brand during winter
storms is thankfully received by the
eastern owners. 1t does not represent
a large loss of money / do not be
Heve that there has ever been "a herd
of cattle wintered on the plains. with
no provision was made for food for
them. that did not lose much more
than the reported loss ! speak of
stock cattle. not Of brands of picked
steers and I would not believe the