Connecticut western news., 1883-07-11
OUT ON THE PLAINS.
THE MANNER IN WHICH CATTLE
 ARE TREATED.
The Story as Told by One of the Cattle
 Raisers.

The history of cattle breeding on the
 plains and ill the mountain valleys is one
 of cruelty to dumb animals. Thousands
 and thousands of cattle are annually fro.
 zen and starved to death on these wind
 swept plains, because their owners be-
 lieve and assert that it is cheaper to
 have them die than to provide food and shelter for them. For the suffering
 these cattle endure before death relieves them no stock breeder cares at all.
 They are equally indifferent to the money loss resulting from their death. Callousness of heart IS an essential qual. ification for cattle breeder who feeds
 his herd on plains of high altitude. Of the wickedness of the men who assume charge of horned stock and drive them into country where numbers of them starve to death, or die of raging thirst in the winter, when the water holes are frozen, or freeze to death during the arctic-like storms, I have something to say.
 If farmer living in the valley of the Hudson should treat his stock as cattle are treated on the plains, howl of. .vir- tuous indignation would resound throughout the Empire State, and the inhuman owner would be bitterly prose- I cuted in the courts. He would be taught that animals have rights, and that own ership 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 another at the same time-standing shivering, with hanging heads, and with the death stare suok in their eyes, in the lee of willow bushes, or by widespread rails in fences, seeking protection from the cut ting northern blasts, have had their hearts wrung. These COWS are patiently waiting for the kind hand of death to re- lease them from the cruel ownership of lnhuman men. Their dead carcasses mutely protest against the outrageous abuse of ownership that is practiced on the grazing ground of the West.
 Men who cheerfully, yes, eagerly, ais slst by word of mouth and gifts of money Ill suppressing all exhibitions of cruelty to animals in the streets of New York. embark in enterprises of cattle breeding on the Western 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 in & year. The cattle breeding companies that are now sprlnging into corporate existence all over this country should be openly incorporated, for instance, as ''The Great Western Cattle Torturing Company, in- corporated 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 proftably pay the inves- tors.
 l have seen blizzards on the plains that swept through man who was clad in heavy woolens and fur overgarments as though he was dressed in tarlatan. I have known parties of buffalo hunters men used to hardship, and whose stom- achs were filled with buffalo marrow and who are wrapped in blankets and robes, to freeze to death in their wagons while endeavoring to escape from the un- endurable, icy blasts of an arctic-like blizzard. Cattle, weak and ill-fed on frost-bitten grass, disappear before these storms. They drift with the wind.s As they pass by, the air is filled with the sound of their mournful moaning. They wander staggeringly along over the trackless plains, vainly endeavoring to find water with which to quench the intense thirst produced by exceedingly cold weather The water holes are fro zen. The weaker cattle drop out of the herd. They lie down to die. The snow drifts around them. They are freezing to death, and are still consumed by rag ing fever. The wolves attack them as they lay 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 hor- rible death of being eaten alive by car nivorous animals is their doom, is an un- earthly one. As the peculiar below of an animal when it finds the scent 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 manageable, so does the death cry of a feeble COW frighten the drifting herd. They disappear down the wind. The wolves close in on the doomed animal. She struggles desper- ately to rise. In vain. The hungry 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 three or four. or five per centrlm of cattle brand dur ing winter storms is thankfully received by the Eastern owners. It does not rep- resent large loss of money. I do not believe that there has ever been herd of cattle wintered on the plains, where no provision was made for food for them, that did not lose much more than the reported loss. I speak of stock cattle, not of bands of picked steers; and I would not believe the reports if all the cruel men would insure cattle on the range lying between the Rio Grande and Saskatchewan Rivers swore to them. I have known entire herds to be lost. Of one herd of 1000 beeves, not single an- lmal survived tha wintar If '71 oDJ '7O ii,