Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-13

cAs a result of the campaign insti-
tuted by The Herald and now greatly
augmented by hundreds of humane
citizens who are equally anxious for
the establishment in Los Angeles of a
more modern and civilized system for
the treatment of unlicensed dogs, the
office of The Herald is flooded with
letters and suggestions in support OF
the proposed change.
Every one seems to recognize the fact
that the Los Angeles method of exon
Grating the owner and furnishing the
dog, which is obsolete in nearly all
other communities laying claim to be-
ing civilized, is barbarous, cruel and
ineffective.
In New York, London, Boston and
other big cities the work of collecting
dog licenses now is being handled by
the s. P. C. A. or allied humane So
cieties, which receive all or portion
of the revenues from the licenses, and
which, in turn, attend to all the de-
tails and expenses of the business, pro-
viding shelters and medical treatment
for homeless and sick dogs. securing
homes for desirable CANNES. feeding
and housing the half starved and hu-
namely disposing by asphyxiation or
those which are incurably afflicted or
dangerous.
In Los Angeles we kill all dogs on
which the owners refuse to pay the
tax, or which have no owners.
Most Desirable Victims
Dogs taken in the residence places,
of course, generally are the pets or
some boy or girl, hence will be taken
from the pound before the death SEN
tence can be imposed, and so the dog
catcher Is more certain of his fee.
Just why everybody is so wrought
up over this system and yet does moth
ing about it, remains a mystery. There
can be no question of the great
success of the methods in vogue in
other cities, where the work Is
humanely handled by the S. P. c. A.
and affiliated societies.
In Boston the catching of homeless
dogs for the current summers round
up has been turned over to the Amman
Rescue league Mayor Hibbard of the
Hub city in this enlightened policy VIII
be supported by all lovers OF Kindness
and decency 1t is one OF the nos'
creGitable of, his many refreshing oe-
partures from the beaten track OF city
hall standards and ideas in Boston.
For the animal kingdom 1t is almost
as though the czar should suooenIy
dismiss Stolypin and the brutal pu-
reaucrats who have organized mas
sacres in the Jewish quarters OF great
cities as a pretext of crushing reXolu-
ton and should send for Prof.. Mllyu-
koff and Count Tolstoi to organize the
government, supplanting the German
bureaucrats with selected delegates
from the university settlements OF New
York and Boston. -,
The Animal Rescue league mas
grown around the organizing genius
Of one woman, Mrs. Huntington Smith,
an ~ &c a humane society with almost
the largest range of activities OF any
in the world.
Great Work Done There
Resides the Boston headquarters in
Carver street with its administration
building, kennels, infirmary ana re-
ceiying station for small animals, all
of which are models in their ways and
do a work which is but family out
lined in the official report of 1858 dogs.
77Ss cats. 6344 kittens, besides 4S
SQUIRRELS rabbits and birds received
there making total of 17,129 this
wear: ali the moral influence, all the
nrornotion of habits of thoughtfulness
and mercy. all the blessings of the
realizine sense of the common interest
among all sufferers, human and sub
human, the haven is still to be
thanked for, outside Of these statistics.
1t is gratifying to learn that this
er than that of the year before; there
is some hope that the supply of de-
serted and otherwise abused animals
is not inexhaustible.
Not content with this work Mrs
Huntington Smith of the Animal Res
cue league has now taken on the city
dog-catching work and not merely for
the usual summer scare, but for al