July 13.
Few if any people, certainly' none of British birth, can fail to! take some interest in performing animals and the question of when! ther or not their training in-! volves cruelty. On which question opinion is divided, some maintaining that it is impossible to train animals so as to be worth exhibiting except by kindness; among whom is so well known a writer as Mr. Horace Hutchinson, who often contributes on animal subjects to the ''Westminster Gazette'; while others maintain exactly the opposite point of view and urge that all performing animal shows should be forbidden.
The probabilities would seem to be that it all depends on what kind of animal is being trained. some of the cleverest performers we have ever seen were cats, and anybody who knows anything about them knows that cruelty- is useless with them, merely send-Yng them to sulk and glower under the back of the nearest chest of drawers. Again with dogs, the whip may do something because a dog is of a very humble nature, but infinitely more can be done by kindness and establishing a community of feeling with him. On the other hand, with lions and tigers it is difficult to see how terrorism is to be avoided. There is a widespread belief that they are drugged in order to go through the few clumsy tricks they do, and whether this be true" or not, the whip plays an unpleasantly large part in every lion-; tamer's performance.
This distinction between one sort of animals and "another appears to be recognized by the Select Committee on Performing Animals, which has just produced its report after ten months of conscientious investigation, during which it examined forty-three witnesses covering a period of twenty-five years. The Committee are convinced that there have been in the past and still are many cases of wanton cruelty in the training and performance of animals; but they add that there has been a marked improvement in this respect in recent years and they are impressed with the honest and genuine desire of the profession to eliminate every possibility of cruelty and_ill-treatment, and with their willingness to ce-operate with the societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals in restricting performances to such as will meet with general approval.
They do not advocate the prohibition of displays of performing animals, but they consider that better supervision of such performances and of trainers and training is needed, and that penalties imposed for cruelty have generally proved inadequate. They recommend, therefore, the appointment of a committee of supervision with legal powers to prohibit, restrict, suspend and modify any performance if they think fit, while all persons who train animals for public performance and the places where they do so must be registered, and representatives of the R.S.P.C.A., police and borough or county" councils should have access to places where animals are trained and to their performances at any time, without previous warning. In respect of animals trained abroad the Committee should have power to forbid their performing where the conditions of training are held to have involved cruelty. Finally they advise (e) That the training and performances of all chimpanzees and of all anthropoid apes should be prohibited.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.