The morning call., 1891-09-06
DOGS AND HORSES.

Yesterdays CALL contained an account
Of the new pound which is TO be opened on
the 18th. 1t will be under the control OF the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals and it is hoped by the public that
its management will offer bright contrast
to the institution which was run by Mr..
Buckley's friend, Jake Lindo. So far Us the
building and its distribution are concerned,
they certainly compare favorably with the
horrible den in which LindO kept his cap
tives. The rest will depend on the quality
of the men whom the society appoints to
carry out the dog law.
The principle of the law which they have
to execute is that a check must be put to the
indiScriminate development Of canine life.
Dogs are at best out of place in a city.
They have no room to exercise. and their
opportunities for indiscriminate feeding are
sure to make them unhealthy. In the streets
they are nuisance, and they often make
night troubled dream by iGeessant bark
ing. 1t appears to be a law of the canine
race that the smallest dogs and the most IN
questionable mongrels can bark the longest
and the loudest. The dread disease hydro
pho6ia is happily unknown here, but tleas
produce a form of mango which is said to be
capable of being communicated to human
beings. For these and other reasons all
well-ordered cities try TO avoid the example
of COnstantinOple and TO set limit to the
spread of dogs.
But there are two ways in which this can
be done. One is by authorizing human
brutes to lasso stray dogs. and drag the m
with blows aud jerks which are apt to dislo-
cate their legs into cage, which parades
the streets as a professional example of
blrbarity; the other is by employing decent
men, who discharge their unpleasant duty
with as much forbearance aud Humanity as
are consistent with its thorough perform
ance. The trouble with Lindo was that he
chose improper men to be his doa-catchers
and that they snatched dogs as if it was
genuine pleasure to them, and fought with
men and women as if they would have liked
10 lasso them. too. There is no necessity
whatever for the employment of such peo-
pie. Men can be found who will abate the
nuisance Of stray dogs without shocking
peoples feelings, or setting before children
an example of unrestrained cruelty. The
public indulge a confident hope that the
society in whose hands the Pound has been
placed Will find such men and engage them.
And while the community may be con-
graduated on the march Of humanity in
will devote little thought to horses. There
is perhaps no city in the civilized world
where these noble animals ara as badly
treated as here. A horse, to thrive and live
to the natural term of his life, should not
be expected to haul more than ton on a
level. But it is quite common here to see
team hauling four, five or six tons, or even
more, and that not always on a level, but
up one of the aecli vitivies with which the
city abOunds. The animals, stimulated by
whip and voice, accomplish tha task re-
qured of them, but they do not last very
long. They die of overwork. The constant
strain upon thew and sinew is more than
they can bear. They are pnt to death in
order that their owners shall get out Of
them in year twenty-four months work.
The calculation may be sagacious, but it is
cruel.
Nor is the cruelty confined to draymen or
teamsters. An equally aggravated form OF
the vice may be noticed any day in the
park. Magnificent animals, attached to
splendid equipages and covered with gaudy
harness, may be seen undergoing dreadful
torment from the check-rein or oVerdraw
That relic of barbarism, which is fast pass
ing out of use in Europe. still fiourishes in
San Francisco A fashionable lady does
not think her turnout stylish unless her
horses heads are screwed back till eramp
ensues. and their jaws are distended as
those Of a man are when he IS gagged. The
horse, patient creature, bears the agony in
patience. He probably supposes that the
pain he suffers is a condition OF his exist
enee. How much he suffers those can tell
who have watched horse when the groom
unbuckles the instrument of torture and he
stretches his neck with sense of untold
relief