THE AARD VARK OR EARTH HOG 



attempt be made to drive it through the hide. An 

 Ant-Eater will often make good its escape, even 

 after several rifle bullets have penetrated its body. 

 In these cases the animal dies a lingering and painful 

 death in its burrow, as do countless other innocent 

 animals which are wantonly wounded by men and 

 youths with guns. 



This was brought home to me with a shock one 

 bright moonlight night when I was riding over the 

 veld with some friends, and accompanied by, several 

 dogs. When passing over the brow of a low eleva- 

 tion, the dogs gave tongue and raced off after some 

 large creature. In a minute or two they gathered 

 round it, and riding up we whipped them off, and 

 turned our attention to the creature, which proved 

 to be an adult Aard Vark. We at once saw that it 

 was in a crippled and appallingly emaciated con- 

 dition. One of the party struck it a severe blow 

 over the skull and put it out of its misery. We 

 then examined it more closely, and discovered that 

 the back leg had been shattered to pieces and the 

 foot was dangling. The wound had been so 

 horrible that it had failed to heal, and flies had 

 laid eggs in the suppurating flesh, and in conse- 

 quence most of the thigh was a putrid mass, seething 

 with maggots. All this we clearly saw by the light 

 of a bull's-eye lantern. The creature had, no doubt, 

 been suffering the most horrible of torments for 

 weeks, as it was evident from the appearance of the 

 wound that it had not been recently inflicted. 



239 



