14 MARCH 1947, Page 18

The Cruellest Trap On the subject of the Ministry, humanitarians

fear, not without reason, that one clause in the new Act gives permanent and official licence for the use of the steel-toothed trap in the open. This trap is a devilish instrument. It wounds birds and domestic animals as well as therabbits and vermin for which it is usually set. The list animal I saw in one was a fox, but the one-footed bird has become a common- place during the war. It is more than time that at least the old limitations to its use were re-inbreed—if its total prohibition cannot be granted.