Protection of Animals.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 12 March 1924.

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Photo of Mr George Spencer Mr George Spencer , Broxtowe

I do, Sir, and I do so, not because I am in any sense antagonistic to the principle underlying the Bill, but for the simple reason that the Bill in itself does not go far enough, and draws a distinction between the sport which is pursued by the working man and the sport which is pursued by rich people. Let us see upon what ground the hon. Member who submitted this Bill distinguishes between the sport of the working man who courses rabbits and the sport of other people who course hares. As far as I can gather an animal which has been caged for a certain period is not, under this Bill, to be pursued by dogs. Does the cruelty then depend upon the fact of the animal having been caged? No, the cruelty begins, in the case of any animal, as soon as the animal senses danger and feels that the dogs are after it. That is where the real cruelty begins. The animal's terror starts at the instant it senses the danger, and that cruelty begins, in the case of the hare, at that point just as it begins in the case of the rabbit at that point. Cruelty is involved when dogs begin to chase a hare, or a fox or a stag. If the hon. Member desires to go into all forms of cruelty he will find that some of us are quite willing to support him, but we cannot do so if he proposes to deal with only I one form of cruelty, knowing perfectly well that, if he includes the others in his Bill, those who have promised to support him as regards the rabbit coursing will withdraw their support and will oppose a measure applied to hares and foxes also. While I would readily support a Bill which had for its object the stopping of the coursing of hares, of fox hunting or deer stalking, I will be no party to the passing of a little Bill of this description which is simply playing into the hands of a large section of this House at the expense of the very few people in this country who do these things to which the hon. Member referred. I would vote to-morrow to putting them all to an end, but I will be no party to discriminating on the lines of the Bill.