| 194A WORD WITH THE WOMEN
(By Elia W. Peattie)
Friends of dogs, of whom there are many in Omaha, will be interested to read the report which the president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals makes in relation to the shelter for animals in New York City. The society in New York has been invested with all the powers and functions which were formerly intrusted to the city government in the licensing of dogs, the capturing of estrays and the detention and humane destruction of captured animals at the
city pound. A buildng 100 feet long and 25 feet wide is fitted up with every
possible convenience for the maintenance of captured animals, and for destroying them without pain. The service consists of four ambulances and two wagons fitted for the purpose, eight horses and twenty-two persons, who work by relays. The president of the society says:
The Shelter has been in operation for barely eight months. The undertaking was necessarily experimental, but its arrangements were carefully planned in advance, and thus far they have been carried out with reasonable success. There is only one institution in the world with which the Shelter can be compared. I refer to the Battersea Home for Dogs in London. On examining the thirty-third annual report (1893) of that excellent institution, I find some interesting particulars. The Battersea home has the assistance of the metropolitan police of London, its operations extend throughout the city and county of London, with a population which is about three times as large as that of the city of New York. I find that in 1893 it received 17 928 lost and homeless dogs, and it may be inferred that in a city of one-third the population it would have received 6 000 in twelve months, or 4 000 in eight months. Our own Shelter, by the work of our own employes, and with no assistance whatever from the police, in the capture of dogs, has received in eight months 7 765 dogs alone, that is to say in the first eight months of existence, with new machinery, and acting under a new law, the Shelter has received over 93 per cent more dogs than the Battersea home, after thirty-three years of experience, and with all the assistance of one of the best organized police forces in the world, had received for an equal population in the same period of time. But this is not all, for the Battersea home receives dogs alone whereas our Shelter receives cats and other animals, and the number of animals of all kinds which have been received during our first eight months has been 22 028 of which 632 were lost animals restored to their owners.
It is a cause of great encouragement, that such a work should have been put in operation without appreciable difficulty, but the truth is that the public confidence which has been generously given to the society in this undertaking has made all our difficulties less than we could reasonably have expected, and it has been observed by some of the newspapers that the summer of 1894-- the first summer for many years in which dogs in the city of New York have been allowed to go unmuzzled-- is also the first summer in which there has not been a single paroxysm of popular apprehension of hydrophobia.
Apropos of dogs, it is astonishing what a wide acquaintance a dog can make. There is, for example, a dog I know named Rex- well, we will say, Rex Butler. He is one of the most sociable of dogs, with a bright, responsive face and the most charming Collie ways. He will find any stick that you throw, no matter what a tangle of weeds
it may land in. Moreover, after you once become friends with him, he will never see you on the street without hastening to find a stick, which he will present to you with the request-- which he makes with his eloquent tail-- that you please throw it for him to run after. If, by any chance he cannot find a stick he goes half frantic with chagrin and pique, and makes his apologies by fawning humbly about your feet. If
you refuse to throw the stick, or pretend not to see it after he has laid it at your feet, he will rend the air with nervous little barks and tug at your garments to attract your attention, in-gratifyingly pointing at the stick with his paw. His greatest joy is to jump through the spray of water thrown from the garden hose, and no matter how high you may elevate the spray, he will endeavor to leap through it. He is absolutely obedient, although self respectful. He never passed a friend without some sort of salutation. He has among prejudices, and while he is never vicious, there are persons whom he delights to cut, and with some he will never exchange a civility. Now it happens that the children of his owners are all dead, and that Rex is the only pet in the house that should have been and once was full of girls and boys. They are very quiet and reserved people, his owners, and are known to but few of the neighbors. But Rex, being the sociable creature that he is, and of a sort who makes a round of calls every summer evening, is known all over the neighborhood. So it has come about quite naturally that the attractive house where he lives is known among all the children as "Rex Butler's home," and the gentleman who owns him- and who really is a man of some importance- is spoken of by the children as "the man Rex lives with."
There is no doubt that Rex is one of the neighbors and that he is recognized as such even if he has no voice in special assessments, and ward councilmen. | 194A WORD
WITH THE WOMEN
(By Elia W. Peattie)
Friends of dogs, of whom there are
many in Omaha, will be interested to
read the report which the president of
the American Society for the Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Animals makes in re-
lation to the shelter for animals in New
York City. The society in New York
has been invested with all the powers
and functions which were formerly in-
trusted to the city government in the li-
censing of dogs, the capturing of es-
trays and the detention and humane de-
struction of captured animals at the
city pound A building 100 feet long
and 25 feet wide is fitted up with every
possible convenience for the mainte-
nance of captured animals, and for de-
stroying them without pain. The serv-
ice consists of four ambulances and
two wagons fitted for the purpose, eight
horses and twenty-two persons, who
work by relays. The president of the
society says:
The Shelter has been in operation for
barely eight months. The undertaking
was necessarily experimental, but its ar-
rangements were carefully planned in ad-
vance, and thus far they have been car-
ried out with reasonable success. There
is only one institution in the world with
which the Shelter can be compared. I re-
fer to the Battersea Home for Dogs in
London. On examining the thirty-third
annual report (1893) of that excellent in-
stitution, I find some interesting particu-
lars. The Battersea home has the as-
sistance of the metropolitan police of Lon-
don, its operations extend throughout the
city and county of London, with a popula-
tion which is about three times as large
as that of the city of New York. I find
that in 1893 it received 17 928 lost and home-
less dogs, and it may be inferred that in
a city of one-third the population it would
have received 6 000 in twelve months, or
4 000 in eight months. Our own Shelter, by
the work of our own employes, and with
no assistance whatever from the police,
in the capture of dogs, has received in
eight months 7 765 dogs alone, that is to
say in the first eight months of existence,
with new machinery, and acting under a
new law, the Shelter has received over 93
per cent more dogs than the Battersea
home, after thirty-three years of exper-
ience, and with all the assistance of one of
the best organized police forces in the
world, had received for an equal popula-
tion in the same period of time. But this
is not all, for the Battersea home receives
dogs alone whereas our Shelter receives
cats and other animals, and the number
of animals of all kinds which ahve been
received during our first eight months has
been 22 028 of which 632 were lost animals
restored to their owners.
It is a cause of great encouragement,
that such a work should have been put in
operation without appreciable difficulty,
but the truth is that the public con-
fidence which has been generously given
to the society in this undertaking has
made all our difficulties less than we
could reasonably have expected, and it
has been observed by some of the news-
papers that the summer of 1894- the first
summer for many years in which dogs in
the city of New York have been allowed
to go unmuzzled- is also the first summer
in which there has not been a single
paroxysm of popular apprehension of
hydrophobia.
Apropos of dogs, it is astonishing
what a wide acquaintance a dog can
make. There is, for example, a dog I
know named Rex- well, we will say,
Rex Butler. He is one of the most
sociable of dogs, with a bright, respon-
sive face and the most charming Collie
ways. He will find any stick that you
throw, no matter what a tangle of weeds
it may land in. Moreover, after you
once become friends with him, he will
never see you on the street without
hastening to find a stick, which he will
present to you with the request- which
he makes with his eloquent tail- that
you please throw it for him to run after.
If, by any chance he cannot find a
stick he goes half frantic with chagrin
and pique, and makes his apologies by
fawning humbly about your feet. If
you refuse to throw the stick, or pre-
tned not to see it after he has laid it at
your feet, he will rend the air with
nervous little barks and tug at your
garments to attract your attention, in-
gratifyingly pointing at the stick with
his paw. His greatest joy is
to jump through the spray of
water thrown from the garden hose,
and no matter how high you may elevate
the spray, he will endeavor to leap
through it. He is absolutely obedient,
although self respectful. He never
passed a friend without some sort of
salutation. He has among prejudices,
and while he is never vicious, there are
persons whom he delights to cut, and
with some he will never exchange a civ-
ility. Now it happens that the children
of his owners are all dead, and that
Rex is the only pet in the house that
should have been and once was full of
girls and boys. They are very quiet and
reserved people, his owners, and are
known to but few of hte neighbors. But
Rex, being the sociable creature that he
is, and of a sort who makes a round
of calls every summer evening, is known
all over the neighborhood. So it has
come about quite naturally that the at-
tractive house where he lives is known
among all the children as "Rex But-
ler's home," and the gentleman who
owns him- and who really is a man of
some importance- is spoken of by the
children as "the man Rex lives with."
There is no doubt that Rex is one of
the neighbors and that he is recognized
as such even if he has no voice in special
assessments, and ward councilmen. |
