Show r S Utah's Black Mark MarkWe r r We Ve have been told that according to Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals surveys Utah ranks next to the lowest among the 48 states in the way animals are treated We 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 Hu- Hu 1 j. j mane Society which is readily available to handle cases of mistreatment of livestock The TIle editor found that out several i I years ago when he witnessed the horrible torture of a mule d i with a cancerous growth on its chest A dozen or more boys mid arid 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 a ahole ahole ahole hole half the size of a mans man's head burned into the poor animals animal's breast 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 as taken to county officers with the same result Finally it was taken to the governor who said he nominally was head lead of the states state's Humane Society but that he had no organization or funds with which to 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 Ji opinion That was clearly demonstrated by the way some of off jw f the men stood complacently by and watched hot iron after hot iron shoved into the huge raw sore while the mule screamed scream- scream tr r ed and screamed almost humanly at the terrible pain t fr Brigham Young reportedly once said if there is any anyone P r one thing more than another that will send the Mormons to tf tot t I hell it is the way they treat their animals And right now f in this bitter cold weather one needs but ride into the field fields tf v hereabouts to be convinced that several local people are sure sure- JEy ij ly headed for the nether regions tt Its It's a sad sad sight to see five or six horses with only t a wire barbed-wire fence as shelter wandering about a field pawing 17 fL in the cold snow for a few stubbles to eat Just over the t-i t fence is a straw stack toward which they are at times stretching stretch stretch- t rt ing their necks but the many many tracks about the field j Yo also the many pawed places show clearly that the straw i iK i. i K f f either unavailable or is unpalatable And the way they nibble y at the snow indicates no water is available for them either fc Yes its it's a sad sad sight to see such a thing during this bitter cold weather but it be from the between is k v r can seen highway I L Ephraim and Manti or at least could be the first of l k-l s. s th the e wee week k jV V- And there are many other comparable cases Whole b. b r t herds of cattle in wind-swept wind lowlands apparently had nothing nothing noth- noth ing to eat except what they could root out of the snow at ar atU U t i the beginning of the holidays Their only shelter was barbed 4 wire or wire-netting wire fences We wonder how their owners owners' could enjoy the holiday spirit in snug warm homes or a at I 7 I gay parties while the cattle were hungry and cold and un un- i 7 s sheltered h ji Public opinion may help in better bettering ng the sad plight of Yr these sorry animals animals' and the publishers will give freely of f space to signed articles listing specific cases of neglect and andt t r cruelty to livestock But But more than public opinion is needed Utah needs I an active well financed Humane Society with working organizations organizations organizations organ organ- in every city and hamlet to see that if men are to toN N own livestock they mus mutt must t give decent care to the animals during durI during dur dur- I ing the biting col cold l of winter and the extreme heat of summer It is to be hoped that the new governor and the new legislature will do something to help remove from our fair fab- t state the black reputation of being second low in the nation y in the matter of treatment of its livestock Not only will the J animals benefit from such a program but increased financial returns to the owners will vill far more more than offset any addi additional tiona 1 cost of providing adequate food shelter and protection from j I insects to the livestock x |