Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1923-03-16
EASTER CHICKS

The %searchlight of public disap-
prevail needs to be turned full and
strong upon the cruel and mercenary
traffic in Easter baby chicks. HUI
name societies and individuals every
where should be ON the lookout, do
ing everything possible to prevent this
traffic, and to relieve the indescribable
suffering of these pitiful little crea-
lures. Stores selling Easter chicks
should be b%oycotted, and the manage
ment written to, giving the reason.
Often these chicks are used as al
advertisement by department stores to
draw children and others to the stores.
Here they are to be seen in unnatural
surroundings, and generally walking
on each other in crowded pens. Poorly
indeed must they fare when such
stores are closed over Sunday, as dur
ing the week they are usually neg
lected, and food and water given only
when some busy clerk happens to re-
member them or a humane customer
requests it.
Last Easter I saw in n store these
tiny baby chicks on bare boards, with
out straw and without feeding pens.
A dying chick in a horrible condition
was leaning against an electric light
and quite unnoticed until l called at
tention to it, when it was taken away
and killed.
Another store had them in, the win
dow as an advertisement, and so
penned in that they had very little air.
At night they could not sleep on ac-
count of a bright electric light and
were in a pitiable condition, restless
excited and in constant motion. 1
reported this cruelty to the local So
ciety. *
Easter chicks are often purchased
as a passing fancy by those who know
little, if anything, about giving them
proper care, and they suffer and die a
lingering death. Others are given to
children as toys, and handled until
painfully injured or crushed to death.
AS an illustration of the fate of some
of the chicks given to children, let me
mention the following related to ma
by an eye witness.
Mr.. S. living in the suburbs of a
large city gave 200 baby chicks to his
children, aged II and IA. They were
perfectly healthy when purchased, but
at the end of nine weeks of cruelty
and neglect all were dead but about
20, which were in a sickening condi-
tion-little, stunted creatures with a
few scattered feathers. They were
blind and had swollen eyes.
nboeo obioIzg frroro lzoDf in a damn
muddy run. Some scratch feed was
thrown there once a day. Never any
soft food was given, and dry crusts
were thrown to sick chicks. They
never had any grass; when the chill
dren felt like it they gave them a few
cabbage leaves. When demonstrated
with by a friend, the mother of the
children said that the chicks were
getting proper care, and some of the
few remaining ones were lying in a
dying condition on the damp, muddy
floor and in rne at that time.
Truly as Miss G.. Kendall has so well
said: Teaching kindness to animals
may seem a simple thing, but the more
one looks into it's merits the more
penetrating this spiritualizing inf1u-
ence proves to be, causing a change
of conduct, inspiring justice and COM
passion in the place of ~selfishness and
cruelty; training the mind to appre-
bend, and the heart to sympathize
with the needs of the lowly creatures
who form the theoretical object les
son of such surprising interest to the
young; obviously the protecting SYM
pathy' which a child may be taught to
feel towards its helpless dumb COM
panion may in after years inspire the
life of the phflanthropist.
How much such teaching is needed
is demonstrated by the incredibly
cruel deeds perpetrated by children
even of tender years, which call forth
neither remonstrance nor reproof
from parent or guardian."-Mary
Craige Yarrow.
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