101 



A humane trap has been devised by Mr. Huntington Smith, of 

 the Animal Rescue League, 51 Carver Street, Boston. It is 22 

 inches long, 10 wide and 9^ high. The bait is suspended on a 

 hook that releases a cover, which drops and locks but does not 

 shut tight, and therefore never even pinches the cat's tail. 



The opening under the drop lets in air, which passes out 

 through holes at the other end of the trap, thus giving ventila- 

 tion. There is a receptacle for a sponge, into which chloroform 

 may be poured, not coming in contact with the cat. 



There is a trap on the market that chloroforms the cat as 

 soon as it is caught. This is a humane trap but gives no chance 

 for discrimination. It may chloroform the wrong cat. 



The stop-thief trap is said to be humane because it garrotes 

 the cat and quickly shuts off sensation. It is set at the entrance 

 of a hole or passage, or at the mouth of some receptacle, so that 

 the cat must reach through the trap to get the 

 catnip with w^hich it is baited. No. 3 is the size 

 commonly used. Stables says, "Never drown 

 a cat. If there is any one that can be trusted, 

 who knows how to use a gun, by all means have 

 her shot. It is over in a moment. The next 

 best plan is to administer morphia. Don't grudge 

 her a good dose — five or even ten grains. Cats '^:--.Tri^ 

 are wonderfully tenacious of life, but they can't 

 stand that. Make the morphia into a pill, with 

 a little of the extract of liquorice, and force it down the throat. 

 The cat will soon die and will not suffer."^ 



Trapped cats may be chloroformed in a box trap by inserting 

 through the hole in the back a sponge saturated with chloroform, 

 closing the hole and covering the trap with a heavy blanket. 

 Occasionally a stray cat may be too wary to enter a trap. Some 

 that are suspicious of a trap closed at one end will enter one 

 open at both ends. Any cat may be caught by burying or cover- 

 ing several smoked or carefully cleaned steel traps and scatter- 

 ing bait among them, but it is much less cruel to track the cat 

 with dogs, and when it takes to a tree it may be shot through 

 the brain with precision and certainty, suffering no pain. A 

 crack shot w^ith a rifle will make sure to bring down the game at 

 the first shot. Others should use a chokebarreled shotgun, with 

 a heavy charge of powder and shot not smaller than No. 4; 

 BB shot might be better at long range. It is useless to shoot 

 small shot at cats except at very close range. The head shot is 

 the only sure and instantly fatal one. If shot through the body, 

 the cat may live for some time. 



> Stables, Gordon: The Domestic Cat, 1876, p. 88. 



