The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-02-03
FORM NEW SOCIETY
Montpelier to Have Organization For
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

room of the county court house at
which the first Humane Society of
this county was formed. The form
alton of such society has been be-
fore the people of this vicinity for a
long time, but it was not until
States Attorney Benjamin Gates
took the initiative and called for
mass meeting of all those interested
in dumb animals and their welfare
that any move was made toward
starting an organization.
The meeting was called to order
little after o'clock, Mr.. Gates takins
the chair. About fifty of the repre-
sentative people of the city were
present, besides small delegations
from Barre, Mortified and Water
bury. Mr.. Gates spoke of the purpose
of the meeting in very brief man.
ner, giving up the floor to a man
who, as he said, spent the greater
part of his life in the work of caring
for dumb creatures, who are unable
to care for themselves. This man
proved to be John Fuller of Burling
ton, who as the agent of the Burling
ton Humane Society, is well ac-
quainted with all the different phases
of the workings of such an institu.
ton.
Mr.. Fuller spoke at some length
along the lines of his duty as the
agent and of the sights and scenes
which he almost daily, is compelled
ington Society, he has to go all over
the State on calls, in which COM
plant is made that. an animal is being
abused He stated that he had been
in this county number of times
and that on several occasions he had
been called to this city where he ha6
found pitiful conditions in cases
which very few of the inhabitants
ever dreamed of. He stated that tde
worst kind of treatment is to be eX
pected from a farm or a business
that is worked on shares. In such
a case, all that the man wishes, is TO
get as much money as he can out of
the horse and as he does not own the
cattle, feeds them as little as pos
sibe. Then he told story of a farm
not very far distant where he found
the individual running it, he added
that it was not the proprietor, had
gone away for a short time and left
number of head of cattle without
proper fodder. This man of course
was dealt with summarily. Another
case which he described, was one Of
of a far away mountain which he
reached the latter part of the after
noon with a complaint that,
horse was being improperly cared
for and on viewing the animal he
believed it, for it's bones were liter
ally protruding from his skin. Mr..
Fuller found heavy welts on the
horse and knowing from experience
that it would do no good to warn the
man, he took the animal, with it's en-
ragged owner facing him with a cant
hook and put the poor creature out of
its misery.
Mr. Gates followed with an adj
dress of some length on the neces-
sity of forming a Humane Society in
this county, not only in the city, and
of the Importance of doing so right
away. "0f course" said the States
Attorney, you may say, that it is
the duty of the prosecuting officers
to attend to all necessary action
arising out of alleged abuse of ami
mails, but | do not think that it is
possible for an officer to attend to
this subject in such manner as to
cover the ground. The field is very
broad and l know from personal eX-
perience with cases in my own office
that the majority of them need an
investigation besides the mere in
formation that case exists, for at
times it is far better to put an ami
NAL out of its misery, than to bring
its owner into court, fine him and
give him an opportunity to starve or
beat him horse again. In order to
get at the cases that are never heard
of publicly, but which every ono
knows exists, it is necessary 70
specialize. Specialization is what we
need to free the county of the curse
of abuse to our dumb creatures and
how can we get it in a better form
than by the formation of a Humane
Society? The society with every one
of its members agents, so to speak,
and special agent hired to look az
ter and prosecute cases, can be dis
tinctly beneficial for the horse, the
dog and all animals that look to man
as their benefactor.
The question of forming a society
was then thrown open and was spoli
en- upon favorably by the following
Rev. j. Edward Wright, w. VI.
Brock, NJ. w. Wheelock, Mrs. Kate Z.
Terrill Harlow Smith, Clarence
Lease, Mrs. A. o. Cummins and Ar
thur Allen On motion of Mr.. Brock,
it was finally decided to have the
chair appoint committee of five to
nominate officers for the new So