114 



Q. But suppose the animal can't very well be removed and it is impossible to overcome its 

 viciousness except by dehorning ? A. Then I would say that the abusive animal might be 

 abused by dehorning. 



Q. Admitting the practice to be allowable, what age do you consider would be attended 

 with teast pain ? A. If I were going to do anything in that line I would try to prevent the 

 growth of the horn medically. 



William Crealock, Toronto, sworn, said : I am a wholesale butcher, and at one time did 

 a good deal of buying through the country. I have been in the business about twenty years. 

 1 am in favor of dehorning from a business standpoint because the weaker animals get bruised 

 sometimes to the extent of §10 a bullock. There is always one or more injured in every car- 

 load with an average loss of $10 to $15. The shoulders and flanks get injure! by the horns and 

 most of the hides are so badly damaged they are put down as third class. 



Q. If you were buying a carload and had a choice between horned and dehorned cattle > 

 would you give a preference to those without horns ? A. Yes, I think I wou'd as there would 

 not be the same bruises and scores. In buying up through the country a lot of strange cattle 

 are brought together. You have often to wait several hours in the station yard and all the 

 time the cattle are hooking each other. I have seen dehorned cattle at the Buffalo market and 

 they acted pretty quiet. Muleys are not run on in the same way that a timid animal is. Of 

 course if only part of the cattle were dehorned the others would be in danger. 



Thomas McCausland, M.D., Toronto, sworn, said : I have been a medical practitioner 

 since 1856. I have not given special attention to the anatomy of the horn, but I should think 

 severing it close to the head would cause great pain. Where the horn is knocked off we know 

 that the pain is very great. This is shown by the shaking of the head, standing still or 

 moving restlessly about and sometimes a serious falling off in the milk. 



Q° Would you say that any serious disturbance in the condition of the animal would be 

 accompanied by a falling off in the milk ? A. Well, the nervous system might not interfere 

 with the organic. 1 should think there might be great pain without any disturbance of the 



secretion of milk. _ 



Q. Now, we are given to understand by specialists that milk is practically a product of the 

 nervous energy, and that in selecting a cow for milking purposes it is desirable to select one of 

 a nervous temperament, because it would be a better milker — that if a cow is chased or disturbed 

 it interferes with the flow of milk ? A. Yes, that might be, and it may change the nature of the 

 milk, as in the case of a mother who hear? some startling news — her milk afterwards has been 

 known to give a child convulsions. 



Q. Do you think that the severe pain would be confined to the operation itself ? A. Yes ; 

 but there would be pain for some time. I should think there would be a danger of ulceration — 

 that is what I would expect, though of course it might heal by first intention. 



Q. What would you say justifies the infliction of pain upon an animal? A. I think we 

 ought to treat an animal the same as we would a man. It has as much right to live as we have. 

 A money consideratiou would not weigh in my mind against the infliction of pain. 



Q. Now, we have the evidence of drovers, dairymen and farmers who all say that there is a 

 great deal of' suffering inflicted by animals ou each other from the horns— that they would be 

 likely to suffer more in this way than in the momentary operat on of removing the horns ; 

 what would you say to that ? A.I lived on a farm for seven or eight years, with twenty cattle, 

 and I never saw a great deal of suffering. I have seen them remove the hair, but not seriously 



hurt each other. . . 



Q. Putting aside the commercial aspect and comparing the pain from hooking and the pain 

 from dehorning, which would you say was worst ? A. I think the hooking could be prevented 



by putting knobs on. . . . 



Q. On the whole the Commission are to understand that you consider dehorning unjustifi- 

 able ? A . Yes. 



Q. If, however, it was found to be a practice that should be tolerated, do you think it should 

 be surrounded with regulations that would provide for its being properly done? A. Well, I 

 don't know that it requires any great skill if the horns have got to come off. 



Samuel R. Wickett, Toronto, sworn, said : My business is that of a tanner, and I have 

 had opportunities of observing the injuries inflicted on the hides by cattle, extending over thirty 

 years. We handle fifty hides a day, and I think there is fully 25 per cent, that show more or 

 less damage from horns. My experience of hides from Chicago is even worse. We bought 

 three carloads there, and we got a tremendous dose of horn hooks. I noticed, too, that the 

 Bmaller hides were the worst, showing that the smaller animals must have been greatly abused. 



