'POOR WANDERING ONE'
AN APPEAL TO DOC-LOVERS. ■ 1 [By A. Gladys Kernot.] It ought to bo wholly natural for tho human heart to be filled with lovq and understanding for tlio dog. Thore is indisputable evidence that the - dog has been tho boon companion of man ever since that far-away time when the first imperfect gentleman stopped out. of tho primordial bog—or the Garden of Eden; if you prefer it so. Scientist's nowadays positively affirm that in those dark days which polite people would rather disremembor, man and the dog hunted together in a common pack, man supplying the strategy and tho dog tho. sinew necessary for the chase. It may bo that our mutual help to and dependenco on each other at this precarious and strenuous poriod of our history is tho reason why wo have remained inseparable companions through tho centuries &nd centuries of time that have trundled over tho head of humanity since. Only' 'the'other day, in some part' of Europe which I have forgotten for tho moment, a palaeolithio man and a dog belonging' to the same fantastic period of'the Garth's history were found during the course of geological excavation. Tho naturo of their doom was a matter of mystery, but there was a pathetic significance, somehow,' in the fact that they had been huddled over so closely together during their million-year sleep. Structurally, the dog must have been rather on the' lines of a greyhound, though of a somewhat heavier build—he was a quite good shape, anyway. But the man, poor soul, had a gigantic forearm and a skull with which the noblo cranium of the present day would 6corn to have oven a nodding acquaintance. Our Old Friend. • ■ So you see, in tho face of this sort of it isn't a bit of use for aiiy of us to try and put on suporior airs to the dog, for lie knew us very intimately indeed when we-lived down our dismal back lane of pro-civilisation; when wo had no brow worth mentioning and a lower jaw that hung out like a tradesman's signboard. It says something for us, .and it at least shows that we wore not snobs, that when we had bettered our position in life we. still carried our old friend along with us. No doubt, boing as .we w,ero then of a practical order of mind, we invented new spheres for his usefulness as we went along, and as our circumstances altered; and one surmises that he helped to keep the wolf, from the door in the figurative as well as in the literal sense. We have no record of that tedious forward march when we were blazing a trail through primeval chaos; but .we do know that when wo had, outgrown our mate aa a very practical necessity, and when a parting of tho ways might quite easily have come about, he was still padding along beside U3 on thoso little, round feet of his; he was .still, at intervals, snoozling his dear wot nose into our hands an r l being quite satisfied with any turn that affairs' might .take; he was still the foremost friend and the chosen companion. . We adopted him, you might say, from birth. - Wo removed him from his natural surroundings, and assumed absolute command of his destinies. We adapted hipi to; out 1 ever-changing' scheme of life, and we made him dependent on us' for his existence. By overy tradition he should bo-a sacred frust, but to our . everlasting shame be 'it.said;, we-betray him'every hour'.in a "tbbus.and ;different/ways,-. ,- .We i starve .tind we beat him; we neglect his-few poor wants j wo lightly abandon him without one disturbing . thpught,.aSj S t-a Iwjiajt an Qwnorle'?s"sHte'^oi^3<L l4 'if 'dog. —TVe "crucify"'him ,s in" laboratories tt'ith the object of tearing some scientific secret 1 from -his. tortured ■ body. Wo. take amazing and. intolerable. liberties both with the little span of his life and with the mariner of his death. We have taught him to look to us for everything..'• "Yet our' merest whim con-, ■ trols his fate; 'our merest whim can make,his existence one of supreme happiness or a thing of starlc horror. A Heart of Cold. The. dog .has a heart of gold. The least small thing makes Kim happy, the least-small, attention makes him grateful. ..Wo-take, all'his. lovo. and his fealty as matters of course, but wo seldom appreciate hia .heart of gold, or even try to understand his beautiful nature. People do unbelievable things ■to dogs. At tlio end of last summer, while staying in the country, I happened by accident to overhear some of the hotel servants discussing, the fate of a dog that was reported to bo shut up iu a deserted whare. From what afterwards transpired, thero could be littlo doubt that bis owner, who had removed into a township, had left the dog there , with tho. deliberate intention of allowing him to starve to death. When wo rescued the unfortunate animal, he nearly went mad with joy, notwithstanding his famished condition and the ghastly fact that he had been for, nearly two weeks without food! About' the same time, and in same district, some friends of mine saw' a cattle-pup flogged practically to death ' for somo minor mistake lie had made when round-ing-up calves. Such things as these 'are not .pleasant to contemplate; and one would prefer to think that. tli iy were 'of infrequent occurrence—if one did not know quite differently.' The Wastrel. " The problem of the badly-owned dog is sufficiently difficult, but still more difficult .of humane and practical solu-, tion is tho fate of the- hapless wastrel who is nobody's dog in particular. Tho sadness of his lot is exaggerated by the fact that ho is generally what we call a mongrel, and ethically a. mongrel is -a mistake. Ho is usually of little or no monetary value, poor fellow, and-for that reason has 110 proper status in this practical and most unfriendly world of ours.- With-a laziness and an indifference that are simply appalling; people allow their dogs to breed 1
indiscriminately, and. tie result is the poor tyko whom nobody wants, and who, if ho escapes assassination hi his infancy, is foredoomed to a life of metnn-. chol.y vagabondage. Tho stray dogs of Wellington ar-6 ■ largely-of this class, and they are dealt ■ with, as wo all know, by tho Oity Coua- ■' cil. Now, I h?vo itot the ve.ry siiglitest ■ wish to criticiso tho work oi the covmsilin this connection; 1 <miy desire to point out , that it woria witbifi what, are no doubt very necessary liinitatkms. In the first place, tho func-lton <»f the City Council in this nvati.er is, iiaturally, ,i municipal rather than a humane one. Tho municipality regards dogs, firstly as sources of mtiflioipai revenue, and secondly as street huisaflces; and it deals exclusively ivitlj tliest under those two headings. To the City Councillor, in his official capacity, a mongrel by the river's brim, a yellow mongrel is to him—but it is notftttrg moro! I am not complaining about that; I am ouly anxiows to emphasise the fact that' there are many iihousjyilds of people who do Mt regard their old. friend the dog with a municipal eye, and who, though they are just as desirous as tho council is to clear the streets of stray dogs, would yet like to have it done a little differently. They would like, for instance, to lia,ve these animals, cared for on lines of humaneness,, pure and simple; and tlie.y would lik-e to see them "collected" tess fantastically! AlsOj they would like to have, something done for the viotirnß of street accidents; for the keTbing is a horrid public place to put a sensitive creature when ne is wounded ur.to death. Last, but by no means least, they would like soma decent .provision mado for tho many poor Pandering puppies of Wellington—for ihe municipal o.ve, mark ' you, takes w. cogfti-sajDfio o'f any canine tiling under tji'O age of six mon'ths; eo' the blundering puppy eaii wander at his own sweei "wilL and » at [ierfcct liberty to tumble ri'ig soft, silly littlo body under the first traftiear that tempts his baby itiex.porfence. An Animals' Hospital. ' Almost tho last place that 1 visited before leaving England so.roo eighteen months ago was an Ailimals' Hospital in Knightsbridge—one <?f London's many refuges for animals that aro sick or sorry. ■ This particular institution w:t-s a mixed one —that .is to saj'j. it received any sort of. animal that 'was. in need of veterinary treatment or a' temporary home. Those ownors who could jay for ■their patients did so,, of course.; but any poor man could have his animal treated and cared for fteo. of charge— and no animal was efer turned awayf 'The day on which I visited the hoine-i the inmates comprised dogs (principally) and cats,. goats,-and birds•, liersi'?® of all grades, and a costfir's donkey. '
i\'ow, I am not optiinisf ic enough to suggest that an institution 6n sED.ilar lines, if established in Wellington, co.iid be made self-supportijvg. . JtobaMy it couldn't. But that tlierd is a.veiy vital need for a temporary reeeirijyg liomoj if only for the domest-M-ipiiaals:,, anyone who. 1 takes an interest' in the .work of tlio Society'foe ftg of Cruelty to Animals : will find abundantly plain. 1 The absence of some .such "halfway liouso" has Leon a o.onsidera.bie handicap to the society, wb.ielt has for its object the ; relief of. all saiffefisg sni.mals. The City Council malios itclear. from time to time. that, no dogs are received at tho corporation kontiels except those .which .ifiieif , own . officer himself collects on tho streets. There-, fore, when the Inspector of Cruelty to Animals, or any other humane person for that matter, finds a lost- or injured, dog, or a starying m a ptiftpy that' has forgotten where his homij is, tiiere is absolutely no placc -to take thera'C'Veh for temporary shelter. Only a very few weeks ago a grejliound war, found on 'brio [of/the 'bleak-hillsides M y\%rlingtan. She ha3J a'litte'r of 'faHiisJiKl dead pHfh' pies beside-her, and &o : iier-sei.f wtts iri a deplorable condition throngli cold and hunger. She was brought, into town, and some good Samaritans gave her food and a refuge until the inspector for the ; S.P.C.A. found her, a permanent home:. A Suggestion. i So hern is the problem of the dcstitnls dog of AVcllingion City. If 1. }iaye been perhaps, unnecessarily diiiiiso in : explaining his position, it is only because I' fancy the public does not always cOjriprehend tho nature of n:a;iy of the obstacles that hamper the- Society for the Prevention of Cruelty .to Animals, and which seriously .impede the carrying out of their splendid work " I commend the problem of the dog, therefore, to the kind and serious consideration of the many do.g-jos'&i's .of our,. city, and also to tho very mniiy good' people who take an interest in the work .of the society. I. should: Jiko .to sti : g r gest, too, if I. may sOiaeii'liat i-i-midly fib ! so, that tliey. aiid the pi'fblk generally ■ can, if tliey will, compleielv "ehscidaie tho problem for'both .tne S.P.C-,A. and for tho dog 1
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19140630.2.107
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2189, 30 June 1914, Page 11
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,860'POOR WANDERING ONE' Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2189, 30 June 1914, Page 11
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.