The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-28
TERRAPIN TWENTY DEEP.
Is 1t Cruel to Pile Them Up the Way
They Do in Friscop
From the San Francisco ,xaminer.

From the San Francisco ,xaminer.
A mass of live terrapin, piled twenty
deep in a great box, may be seen on San
some street, near Clay, almost any day
now in the terrapin. season. People pass
this mass and, further along. other masses
of the same sort, and they say. as one
gentleman said yesterday: Cruel, isn't
it. to pile up these little animals in this
way, TO remain for months without food
and suffering for want of room and air! I
say cruel"
But the shopkeeper, overheariug the re-
mark, always says: Not a bit of it.
They don't suffer at all, because they
have no feeling"
Now. President Davis of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
and Secretary Holt brook of the same So
clety, say that terrapin may be small,
and they may have a shell on top and bot
tom. and hard heads and clawy feet. but
| they have a good deal of life, and also
have good deal of feeling.
Not so sensitive as a 3-year-old girl,
perhaps" said Mr.. Davis yesterday, NOR
so sensitive as chicken or a dog, but
still sensitive enough to be spared any
unnecessary cruelty. I am going to have
Officer Hooper look into this terrapin
matter and see what can be done about
1t. We have stopped much of the cruelty
to the big green turtles You don't see
as many Of the poor, suffering creatures
dying on the sidewalks now as formerly,
DO you! They used to lie there days at a
time for every heartless man who came
| along with cane to prod their eyes out
or tease them by poking them under
their armor"
Il don't think that armor is as tough
and unfeeling as some people think it is
said Secretary HOlbrOok. nodding ac-
UUipSpaDpp with 10 ron, ,.izc 81 M.
Il have seen boys jab at it with sticks
or throw stones upon it, and the animals
would show every sign of distress, if not
actual pain. Put live coal on it and if
the turtle is able to run Oft he generally
does so, and as fast as he can go, too
Il was passing'a Clay street store the
otter day" said Mr.. Davis, land saw a
cage full of terrapin, the little creatures
being piled one upon another, and l was
told they had been there for weeks. l re-
garded their close, Cramped Imprisonment
as extremely cruel, although not being an
expert l did not feel absolutely certain of
it. | said to their owner, who stood
near:
If this is not cruelty it is certainly
great inconvenience and depriva tion,
which are the next thing to cruelty.
You'd better turn these creatures loose
somewhere, so they will have room
enough to keep off from each others
backs.
"'Oh, nonsense said the man.
They're all right They don't mind it
" How do you know they dont2 Be
sides, and l revealed my badge, I think
you'd better do it anyhow, to avoid
trouble
He gave them the desired room, and
thought they seemed to be happier, for
they moved about as if they enjoyed their
freedom-that IS, all except those that l
regarded as having been weakened by the
pressure upon them. We are going to
look after the terrapin pretty closely af-
ter this and see that no cruelty is prac-
ticed upon them"
w. f. Nolte, naturalist. said he did
not think the terrapin minded being
cooped up or even being piled 20 deep.
They have no feelings, " said he
e. F. Lorquin, also naturalist, said if
you let boxful of terrapin loose in big
room they would all heap up in one cor
ner. No, they might not pile up 20 deep,
but it wouldn't hurt them if they did.
But it is cruel to bring in the big
green turtles the way they do, throwing
them into the holds of vessels in great
piles,'' said Mr.. Lorquin They suffer
there. They are really sick, and, to my
mind, hardly fit for food when they
reach here from Mexico"