The first issue in 1939, for instance, sold 1,350,000 copies. Coulson later complained that clergy, more generally, did little to criticise otter hunting: Seldom do we hear from the pulpit any protests against acts of cowardice and cruelty that would shame savages. 74 11 was fully aware of the power of publicity and as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals did not oppose blood sports, this proposal was a radical move. 5. But Bristow-Noble emphasised that we should. The first publication solely concerned with exposing the cruelties of otter hunting was Joseph Collinson's 1911 The Hunted Otter, a twenty-four page booklet in Ernest Bell's A. In The Times on 13th June 1928 Williamson was described as the finest and most intimate living interpreter of the drama of wildlife. River otters love fish, frogs, crayfishes, crabs, and other aquatic invertebrate The evidence seems clear enough.Footnote Rogers, W. H., Records of the Cheriton Otter Hounds (Taunton, 1925), p. 225 32. [After a pause.] Pring, Geoffrey, Records of the Culmstock Otterhounds, c. 17901957 (Exeter, 1958), p. 35 53, To show that this practice was not a thing of the past, Collinson then lifted more recent examples from the May 1906 Animals Friend: An otter, after being worried for four hours, gave birth to two cubs, and was afterwards hunted for two hours more before she was killed. During the 82nd Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on 21st May, Stephen Coleridge tapped into this public feeling, and unexpectedly proposed that the committee should prepare a bill to make otter hunting illegal. The principles of this League echoed those of its predecessor, that it was iniquitous to inflict suffering, either directly or indirectly, upon sentient animals for the purpose of sport.Footnote 34 the magazine had a massive readership. The 1911 pamphlet attempted to shed light on the overall death roll of otter hunting. In 1939 another iconic image came out on the front cover of the Picture Post (Figure 5). 56 Here Bates presents a very personal and very committed attack on otter hunting in a style of writing quite unlike his own. 39 Google Scholar. 28 This was the month when the Barnstaple cat-worrying case was in the public eye. The cruelty was not disputed and Bell's defence to the charge showed little remorse. 55. According to Coulson those who engaged in the kill became virtually maddened by it.Footnote Considering Johnston's establishment position and his enthusiasm for hunting in the Empire, this was a powerful request. The scientist built a tube that was divided by an. 1. Alongside the written article, twelve pictures are used to provide a step by step visual account of a day's hunting with the Crowhurst Otter Hounds. Promoting the humane principles. He thought that the aesthetics of otter hunting could be maintained if public opinion or legislation limited the killing of otters to ten per annum in any one county and then it might be possible to keep up a picturesque sport without unduly lessening the number of otters in our rivers.Footnote 49. . At least 23 million Amazonian animals, including the otters, were hunted for their hides from 1904 to 1969. 30 Figure 5. View all Google Scholar citations When Oregon and the federal government removed families from the area more than 150 years ago, Peter Hatch said, sea otters were still present. F. Pamphlet Series. But in the early 2000s, their numbers exploded: From 2002 to 2011, the sea-otter population more One of the main reasons Bates spoke out against otter hunting was that he felt that a small minority had reduced his chances of seeing the otter. Cruel Sports magazine readily employed this strategy. 73 Coleridge won the audience at the meeting over to his case. 89. With fox hunting, he argued, few perhaps ever see the death, and it is over almost in an instant but, owing to his strength and cat-like tenacity of life, the otter fights long and dies hard. Colonies were discovered around Alaska's Aleutian Islands and Prince William Sound in the 1930s. 47. WebThe otters were then protected by the international fur seal treaty, which banned sea otter hunting. 25. Rogers, William, Records of the Cheriton Otter Hounds (Taunton, 1925)Google Scholar. Newcastle Daily Journal, 29th May 1914, cited at http://www.henrysalt.co.uk/friends/colonel-coulson. 64. The following month the four-page leaflet, Otters and Men, was issued at the price of 1d. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. The following year, the Fur Seal Treaty was signed and although the something like twelve thousand otters have been killed in England for the purpose of fun. 42. See From the late 1890s Coulson had also launched a prolific letter writing campaign against otter hunting in local, regional and national newspapers. In August 1935 Cruel Sports reported that a group of women from the Leeds branch had protested against the Kendal and District Otter Hounds in July. He proposed that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should take its courage in both hands and accept his amendment: That it be an instruction from this General Meeting of Subscribers of the RSPCA to the Committee, forthwith to secure its presentation to Parliament, the object of which shall be to make otter hunting illegal..Footnote Alongside the overall decrease of otter hunts and otter hunters was the dramatic reduction of advertised meets and reports in the national and regional press. phospholipid bilayer of a cell. 44 Some inhuman wretch: Animal Maiming and the Ambivalent Relationship between Rural Workers and Animals, Rural History, 25 (2014), 13360CrossRefGoogle Scholar. And even we English whose behaviour in the country is notoriously crazy must have an excuse for wading through rivers in grey bowler hats, blue jackets and white flannel breeches. Allen, Daniel, Otter (London, 2010)Google Scholar; Tarka soon became an iconic literary figure, and otter-hunting was made tangible to a new and wide audience.Footnote Ernest Bell, The Barnstaple Cat-Worrying Case, The Animals Friend (1906), 43. Figure 2. The second letter from An Old Fashioned Sportsman denounced otter hunting on sporting grounds and used the Barnstaple cat-worrying case to strengthen his argument: I belong to an old family of Tory sportsman who have been brought up to view with disgust such amusements as involve the fiendish cruelty and worrying of one poor little animal for many hours by a motley crowd of men, women and even children, some armed with spears. 85 The otter is as good an excuse as the next one; and, after all, the beast usually escapes.Footnote Sydney Barthropp, Master of the Eastern Counties Otter Hounds, died fighting in France in 1914, which led to their disbandment soon after. 18, The first published call for the protection of otters came from Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston (18581927) who has been described as one of the main instigators of the scramble for Africa on the ground and considered himself a naturalist above all else.Footnote This weekly magazine, first published on 1st October 1938, was a pioneering outlet for British photojournalism. Downing, Graham, The Hounds of Spring. are not infrequently killed, even in the summer months, and then, of course, the whole litter is destroyed. Coleridge, Bell and others argued in articles in Animals Friend magazine and The Humanitarian that this reversal was unconstitutional and illogical.Footnote Can sea otters save the world After being chased by the crowd, the female otter took refuge in some brickwork under a bridge. It is pleasant to read that after such heroic conduct on the part of the poor beast, the hunter's heart softened and the whelp restored.Footnote Finally the author of the original article, J. C. Bristow-Noble, responded resentfully that On behalf of some of these daughters of Eve, I have now to state that it is of their opinion that the quarry, as is frequently the case, should always be allowed to escape. Swamp Otters The League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sport, Annual Report (London, 1926). From The Field for 18th June 1910 came a report that: Too many bitches are killed at this time of the year (June), the dog otters making themselves very scarce. As the otter hunters arrived at the meet, the first thing they saw was a line of demonstrators with banners bearing the words Abolish the Shameful Sport of Otter-hunting and Stand up for the Helpless. Google Scholar. Recognising that such causes may be dismissed as sickly sentimentality, the League made a point of stressing that their underlying principles were not merely a product of the heart. Kean, Hilda, The Smooth Cool Men of Science: The Feminist and Socialist Response to Vivisection, History Workshop Journal (1995), 40:1, 1638 The letter proposed that drag hunting provides all the thrill of the chase without a living victim, and we earnestly request you to consider its adoption in preference to hunting live creatures.Footnote The Hawkstone Otter Hounds disbanded in 1914, putting down most of their hounds. 43. It was not until July 1928 that the age was lowered to twenty-one. . Oliver, Roland, Johnston, Sir Henry Hamilton (18581927), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [online]Google Scholar. . Some of the recurring questions included: Have we reached such a pitch of humaneness in our treatment of wild animals that no further legislation is desired? and What made it more desirable for individuals, rather than Societies, to promote such legislation? These questions got no response from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the putative otter hunting bill became for many just another means to criticise its inadequacy and hypocrisy. 67. See inside.. The League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, Annual Report (London, 1931), 34. Spearing was no longer permitted in the popular modern form. Sir Edwin Landseer, The Otter Speared, Portrait of the Earl of Aberdeen's Otterhounds, or the Otter Hunt, 1844; Laing Gallery, Newcastle http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/laing-art-gallery/collections.html. A high proportion of the League were women. Darts and arrows were present at the start of hunting. were extirpated. 78. Griffin, Carl J. 20. The national profile of otter hunting was raised in July 1905 when the press reported an incident that became known as the Barnstaple cat-worrying case. 46. otters Otherwise inaccessible wild and watery landscapes could also be explored: in otter hunting, the hounds, the invigorating air of the early morning, and the superb beauty of England's valleys and dales constitute the chief attractions. He saw that miserable little animal was pursued by men with large poles with spikes in their heads, men who would put on a tall hat and go to Church on Sundays, while women disgracing their sex stood by and lent their countenance and encouragement to the brutal proceedings. Ernest Bell, The Barnstaple Cat-Worrying Case, The Animals Friend (1906), 43. 16586Google Scholar; The sea otter rescue plan that worked too well - BBC Future Like the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, the National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports advocated the state regulation of British wildlife, and were outraged by the hunting and coursing of highly sentient creatures for sport. 30. In the case of an organised hunt, the followers deliberately engage in a series of barbaric acts, skilfully camouflaged by all the trappings of an elaborate ritual. . At night, in company with her other cub, she came to the yard and tried to liberate the little captive, but without success. 9. The object of this society was to create a sound public opinion on the destruction of wild animals throughout the British Empire, especially Africa, and establish game reserves.Footnote For Johnston the otter was not a special animal, it was one of many beasts, birds, and reptiles which potentially added to the future happiness of the world. Writing in the Morning Leader, Colonel Coulson described how an otter, which had been hunted for seven hours, was struck and killed by a blow from a metal-shod stick wielded by an otter hunter in a boat. The crucial connection, he discovered, was sea urchins. In the same year Amos organised the Leeds Rodeo Protest Committee which successfully scotched several attempts to import and establish rodeo in England. Allen, Daniel, A Delightful Sport with peculiar claims: The Specificities of Otterhunting, 18501939, in Hoyle, R. W., ed., Our Hunting Fathers: Field Sports in England after 1850 (Lancaster, 2007), pp. 75. By 2016, over 4,000 river otters had been translocated to 23 states. 36, The third, by Lady Florence Dixie, took the opportunity to publicise the Humanitarian League's work on blood sports. . 73. 58. At dawn she withdrew to the river, where she was again hunted, but after several hours pursuit managed to escape. As this practice was almost exclusivelyFootnote Sea urchins are voracious grazers of kelp. Hale, Matthew In this case, which was brought by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Master of the Cheriton Otter Hounds, Mr Walter Lorraine Bell, and three of its members were found guilty of charges relating to cruelty to cats. In these terms, this exceptional incident was absorbed into the broader campaign against blood sports. This pack disbanded in 1919 when he became master of the Hawkstone Otter Hounds. Otter hunting was a minor field sport in Britain but in the early years of the twentieth century a lively campaign to ban it was orchestrated by several individuals and anti-hunting societies. The candid words of Reverend E. W. L. Davies in his 1886 chapter on The Otter and his Ways helped to reinforce this point: Bitch-otters yielding milk. Men, women and children could all actively participate together in this sport. Ernest Bell noted in the Animals Friend journal soon after the prosecution that it was quite right that the press should express horror at such barbarity but questioned whether the deliberate worrying of otters for amusement was any less cruel or reprehensible than the worrying of cats.Footnote I do not find this in the least hard to believe.Footnote Douglas Macdonald Hastings, Hunting the Otter, Picture Post, 22nd July 1939, 5256, p. 52. 1 The latter is essentially a personal consideration of riverside life along the Ouse and the Nene. The last known native sea otter in Washington state, Larson said, was shot in 1910 near Willapa Bay. We can gain an insight into the exact message they were trying to make from the letter which was handed to the master, Sir Maurice Bromley-Wilson, and followers: The Leeds branch of the League for Prohibition of Cruel Sports has organised this protest against otter-hunting to indicate that there is a growing public feeling against this and other so-called sports. and provided further evidence of the barbarous spirit engendered by indulgence in blood sports.Footnote 67 Hunting is a good excuse for a hard day's exercise. To help do this he compares otter hunting with fox hunting. Bell was sentenced to one month's imprisonment with hard labour and John Church, the Hunt's Whip, received half that sentence. 6. The National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports sought to enlist the support of well-known individuals, including the journalist and author H. E. Bates (19051974) who became a mainstream country writer. feel thankful that the Masters of the various packs of otter hounds do not share this opinion.Footnote The Humanitarian League was dissolved in 1919, and the main organisation to campaign against otter hunting became the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, founded in 1924. Separating fact from fiction: otters and anglers | Discover Interestingly, the magazine did not choose a classic scene of hounds in a watery landscape.
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