Barbaric Methods
A newspaper cutting that came to me from l3rechin described 110 a gamekeeper trapped and extracted two vixens and their cubs fro° one fox-hole, and 1 was interested in the fact of two families shariol a hole. What interested me more was that thecubs Wer,e finally extracted by the use of a " tool " favoured by gamekeepers. , was made of barbed wire. 1 think 1 know the sort of thing it µ'a° Once I saw a lamb rescued from a ledge by the use of a thick branch, of blackberry. The branch was lowered until it caught in the WOO, of the lamb and then twisted until the thorns took grip, wheretipo° the lamb was lifted safely. I think the barbed wire in this case VI used as the same sort of implement. Cubs are almost woolly, and their soft fur and skin would catch in the barbs in much the same way as the thorn held the lamb. It is an old practice and a barbaric one like putting a stitch in a ferret's lips before taking it to a burrow, 1.° breaking its teeth with pliers to prevent it biting its quarry. I ho'6 known of ferrets being treated in the way described by men WII° never considered that they were inflicting pain.
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