Show Utah's Black Mark MarkWe We have been told that according to Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals surveys Utah ranks next to the lowest among the 48 43 states in the way animals are treated We Ve have not been able to verify this report nor have we heard which state ranks lower It is well known however that the state has no Humane Humane Humane Hu Hu- mane Society which is readily available to handle cases of mistreatment of livestock The editor found that out several years ago when he witnessed the horrible torture of a mule I with a cancerous growth on its chest A dozen or more boys and men stood around some of them horror stricken some disgusted and others complacently watching the poor bound animal being cruelly burned again and again with huge irons until the cancerous growth had been burned away and ahole a ahole ahole hole half the size of a mans man's head burned into the poor animals animal's t b un j t. t I. I Of course the growth came back and the mule finally was shot But the case was reported to local peace officers who said they were powerless to do anything It was taken to county officers with the same result Finally it was taken to the governor who said he nominally was head of the states state's Humane Society but that he had no organization or funds with which tb carry out a program Public opinion it seemed was the only force available to combat such cruelties But some fiends in mens men's clothing were not and are not now amenable to the force of public opinion That was clearly demonstrated by the way some some- of the men stood complacently by and watched hot iron after hot iron shoved into the huge raw v sore while the mule screamed screamed screamed scream scream- ed and screamed almost humanly at the terrible pain Brigham Young reportedly once said if there is any anyone anyone one one thing more than another that will send end the Mormons to tp hell it is the way they treat their animals And right now in this bitter cold weather one needs but ride into the field fields hereabouts to be convinced that several local people are are surely surely surely sure sure- ly headed for the nether regions Its It's a sad sad sight to see five or six horses with only a wire barbed-wire fence as shelter wandering about a field pawing in the cold snow for a few stubbles to eat Just over the fence is a straw stack toward which they are at times stretching stretching stretch stretch- ing their necks but the many many tracks about the field also the many pawed places show clearly that the straw i Lc i either unavailable or is unpalatable And the way they nibble at the snow indicates no water is available for them either Yes its it's a sad sad sight to see such a thing during this bitter cold weather but it can be seen from the highway between I I Ephraim and Manti or at least could be the first of the week And there are many other comparable cases Whole herds of cattle in wind-swept wind lowlands apparently had nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing to eat except what they could root out of the snow at ar arthe atthe atthe the beginning of the holidays Their only shelter was barbed wire wire or wire-netting wire fences We Ve wonder how their owners could enjoy the holiday spirit in snug warm homes or a at agay gay parties parties' while the cattle were hungry and cold and un un- sheltered Public opinion may help in bettering the sad plight of these sorry animals and the publishers will vill give freely of space to signed articles listing specific cases of neglect and cruelty to livestock But more than public opinion is is needed Utah needs an an active well financed Humane Society with working organizations organizations organ organ- izat ons in every city and hamlet to see that if men are to own livestock they must give decent care to the animals during during during dur dur- ing the biting cold of winter and the extreme heat of summer It is is to be hoped that the new governor and the new legislature will do something to help remove from our fair fab- state the black reputation of being second low in the nation in the matter of treatment of its livestock Not only will the animals benefit from such a program but increased financial returns to the owners will far more than offset any additional r cost of providing adequate food shelter and protection from r insects to the livestock n. n |