. 6 63. of compassion, love, gentleness, and universal benevolence, the Humanitarian League clearly set itself apart from other reform oriented bodies. 36, The third, by Lady Florence Dixie, took the opportunity to publicise the Humanitarian League's work on blood sports. Now, what nonsense this is!Footnote This meant the League had far fewer opportunities to criticise otter hunting and by 1918 it recognised that it was the extravagance of spending vast sums of money on hunting and shooting, rather than the cruelty of blood sports, which aroused public resentment.Footnote 87 Hunting is a good excuse for a hard day's exercise. Hounds Feather as They Search the River Banks; (10) Followers Take to the Water; (11) This Is the Kill; (12) The Whip Holds Up the Trophy. At its centre an exhausted hunter holds an otter aloft over a pack of baying otterhounds. 56. The Master of the Crowhurst Otter Hounds surveys a line of Country. 71. Posted on September 22, 2019. The Humanitarian League was dissolved in 1919, and the main organisation to campaign against otter hunting became the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, founded in 1924. This pack disbanded in 1919 when he became master of the Hawkstone Otter Hounds. 37, The first malpractice to be exposed in otter hunting itself was an incident that occurred on the River Tweed on 6th July 1907. Varndell had mastered the Crowhurst Otter Hounds since 1905, and had missed only four days hunting in thirty-five years.Footnote In these terms, this exceptional incident was absorbed into the broader campaign against blood sports. Google Scholar. During the summer months its pages were sprinkled with photographs of women and girls being blooded at otter hunts. Otter-hunting is cowardly and unmanly; Otters are hunted by people who should know better; Otter hunting is a relic of barbarism; Otters are hunted in the breeding season which is despicable were just some of the truths blazoned on boards that day. The first issue in 1939, for instance, sold 1,350,000 copies. 33 A high proportion of the League were women. 20. 31. When interviewed by the Oxford Times, Mrs Chapman explained We went to Islip because we thought we ought to make a special protest against otter-hunting. In 1844 Landseer's The Otter Speared polarised opinion about otter hunting which was condemned by many as barbaric. Sea otter conservation began in the early 20th century, when the sea otter was nearly extinct due to large-scale commercial hunting. The sea otter was once abundant in a wide arc across the North Pacific ocean, from northern Japan to Alaska to Mexico. Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler: Or the Contemplative Man's Recreation (1653), Chapter 2. Darts and arrows were present at the start of hunting. 1823. The national profile of otter hunting was raised in July 1905 when the press reported an incident that became known as the Barnstaple cat-worrying case. 62. But what matter? Sea urchins are voracious grazers of kelp. The otter is as good an excuse as the next one; and, after all, the beast usually escapes.Footnote Call a professional pest removal expert Should Otters be Hunted?, Madame, 9th September 1905, 515, cited in Cheesman and Cheesman, Diaries of the Crowhurst Otter Hounds, p. 44. That year, some conservation measures were established, but unregulated killing resumed in 1867, when the U.S. purchased Alaska. Syse, Karen Victoria Lykke, Otters as Symbols in the British Environmental Discourse, Landscape Research, 38 (2013), 54052CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On occasions deer-hunters hunted and killed hinds-in-calf. The sport became increasingly popular in the late nineteenth century and the Edwardian period. 85 They might be horrified if you suggested that they wished the otter any harm. With this in mind Johnston seemed to overlook the behaviour of otter hunters and instead placed blame on anglers: Salmon is produced in such enormous abundance in North America and Norway, and is so very unlikely (owing to its habit of resorting to the sea) to become exterminated in British waters by the otter, that it would be a shame if this remarkable aquatic weasel. When urchin populations spiked in response, the reefs held their ground. 75. . He met his future wife Ida Hibbert at an otter hunt, and proposed to her at a hunt ball. But in the early 2000s, their numbers exploded: From 2002 to 2011, the sea-otter population more He thought that the aesthetics of otter hunting could be maintained if public opinion or legislation limited the killing of otters to ten per annum in any one county and then it might be possible to keep up a picturesque sport without unduly lessening the number of otters in our rivers.Footnote He declared that Coleridge was entirely out of order in discussing this matter now, adding that he was not speaking of the merits of the subject, but only say it is out of order now. Coleridge replied that: If at your Annual meeting such a motion as that is out of order, then I say this great Society will stultify itself if it does not hear me. 35 2017. He reported that around 450 otters were killed every year which meant that in my short life of thirty years. The opinion of H. E. Bates provides an insight into one person's perception of the immorality of hunting otters to death. Ernest Bell, The Barnstaple Cat-Worrying Case, The Animals Friend (1906), 43. Now, Dr. Estes said, more than 90 percent of those otters are gone. In just a few decades, this bustling civilization has withered into a ghost town. You can travel down 10 miles of coastline and never see an animal, he said. The loss is more than cosmetic. In the Aleutians delicate seascape, otters hold the entire ecosystem together. Google Scholar. During 1970-71, 93 sea otters were released in Oregon. Each image is accompanied with a caption and a paragraph explaining the scene. And since I have never seen an otter, except behind the glass of a painted case, who am I to say that the otter does not enjoy the fun of having its belly bloodily ripped? River otters love fish, frogs, crayfishes, crabs, and other aquatic invertebrate Otter hunters were of course proud of this fact; it was one of the many peculiarities that set it apart from other field sports. Salt, Henry, Seventy Years Among Savages (London, 1921) p. 141 The aesthetic quality of animals was also important to him. He argued that if the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals did not oppose otter hunting then it is quite certain that some similar Society will do so to the utter shame of our Society here.Footnote In fact, this member felt that the latter was worse than the former: In the one case a crowd of men became infected with a sudden attack of blood lust, and were carried away by the excitement of the moment to the temporary exclusion of all feelings of humanity. Williamson's book was based on considerable personal research and knowledge. But model men would find pleasure neither in torturing, nor annihilating any of them.Footnote Williamson dedicated Tarka the Otter to William Rogers. In 2010 a painting normally considered too upsetting for modern tastes which while impressive was also undeniably gruesome was displayed at an exhibition of British sporting art at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. Still, if I am ruled out of order I will resume my seat. The sequence of events is as follows: (1) The Master of an Otter Hunt Plans His Attack; (2) The Followers are Arriving; (3) Hounds are Released from the Van; (4) The Crowhurst Pack Awaits the Signal to Move Off; (5) The Hunt Begins; (6) The Pack Moves Off to Find the Otter's Drag; (7) A Huntsman and His Pole; (8) Cutting off a Corner; (9.) By the twentieth century most otter hunters spoke of the remote and barbarous days of the spear,Footnote Perhaps surprisingly, despite four decades of campaigns against the sport, the article does not describe otter hunting as something controversial. 43. 84. Stephen Coleridge was the second son of Lord Chief Justice of England, John Duke Coleridge, and great nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In The Times on 13th June 1928 Williamson was described as the finest and most intimate living interpreter of the drama of wildlife. He proposed that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should take its courage in both hands and accept his amendment: That it be an instruction from this General Meeting of Subscribers of the RSPCA to the Committee, forthwith to secure its presentation to Parliament, the object of which shall be to make otter hunting illegal..Footnote This indiscriminate killing of females and cubs was shown to be by no means isolated. Google Scholar. The committee concluded that the promotion of legislation and especially of controversial legislation, is not desirable at present and should instead be undertaken as far as possible by individuals.Footnote A true man would kill fierce animals with as little pain as possible, while those he destroys for food, or raiment, he will destroy mercifully. Figure 2. Rather than defend its sentient or sporting qualities, he was much more concerned with its aesthetic role in the landscape. 17 81. . WebThe feeding habits of otters vary greatly depending on species, location, and time of year or season. Spurious Sports Sport with an Otter, The Humanitarian, October 1906, 75. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Google Scholar. Hostname: page-component-75b8448494-knlg2 The League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports also publicised isolated malpractices to strengthen their argument. Following its publication, the book received widespread publicity when Williamson was awarded the Hawthornden Prize in June 1928. They were then handed leaflets. On rare occasions women were singled out for criticism during this period: Why the educated, rich, or the uneducated for the matter of that, have nothing better of more edifying to do with their time is beyond one's comprehension. 8. To help do this he compares otter hunting with fox hunting. The first to second the motion was Ernest Bell who pointed out that otter hunting was just as unsportsmanlike as shooting birds from traps. 45. . Opponents, on the other hand, were offended by this inclusivity. Moreover, otters are not hunted by fishermen, but by people whose notions of fun are to go out and kill something.Footnote In the case of an organised hunt, the followers deliberately engage in a series of barbaric acts, skilfully camouflaged by all the trappings of an elaborate ritual. For this reason, Bates believed that all animals, whether wild or domestic, should have the same legal rights. It is quite clear from the applause with which my remarks have been received that the subscribers of the Society do wish to hear me. Google Scholar. . Coulson compared the death of the fox with the death of the otter to emphasise the cruelty of the latter. Leeds Women Protest at an Otter Hunt, Cruel Sports, August 1935, 59. } . John Mackenzie points out that Landseer did not decry human participation in the raw cruelty of the natural world. George Greenwood made a similar observation in the 1914 publication, Killing for Sport: Men and, good heavens! Glorying over being blooded at an Otter Hunt, Cruel Sports, 1928 p. 85. A prime example was when an article appeared in the 22nd July 1905 edition of Madame, a magazine aimed at wealthy women, proudly informing readers about the first lady Master of Otter Hounds, Mrs Mildred Cheesman. the killing of baby cubs must needs go on, though a grief and pain to all concerned in their ultimate destruction.Footnote The 1911 pamphlet attempted to shed light on the overall death roll of otter hunting. He stressed that he was not a sportsman and had never shot a bird nor hooked a fish in my life but became involuntarily the witness of an otter hunt while sketching beside a pool. This was the month when the Barnstaple cat-worrying case was in the public eye. Bates wrote this chapter on the basis that he liked otters but, despite living within a mile of a river valley, had never seen one in the wild. Summer hunting across rugged river valleys offered strenuous physical exertion in the sun, whilst facilitating a picnic and a paddle. 70 2956Google Scholar; confined to otter hunting, they also tried to divide the hunting fraternity by distinguishing the sporting conduct of otter hunters from fox hunters, stag hunters and hare hunters: If the sporting set consider it unsporting to hunt some animals in the breeding season, why does this not apply to otters?Footnote Large numbers of sea cows occurred in the Commander Islands at the time of their discovery by Europeans in 1741. This is not to say that those within the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports subscribed to this notion. This allowed broader questions to be raised by the publisher and campaigner Ernest Bell (18511933). A sanctuary was created in Amchitka Island, whose sea otter population grew to outstrip its supply of prey. Some inhuman wretch: Animal Maiming and the Ambivalent Relationship between Rural Workers and Animals, Rural History, 25 (2014), 13360CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s however verbal disapproval was replaced with more subtle visual rebukes. Bobcats and otters or their pelts must be delivered to an agent of the Conservation Department for registration or tagging before selling, transferring, tanning or mounting by April 10. In 1929, there was a picture of a middle-aged woman and a teenage girl being blooded by the Joint Masters of the Wye Valley Otter Hounds in front of a crowd of smiling spectators. 11 The seasonality, setting and pedestrianism of otter hunting appealed to Edwardian sporting and leisure sensibilities. After being chased by the crowd, the female otter took refuge in some brickwork under a bridge. artificial for this article. By planting a seed of doubt into the minds of readers over the accuracy of hunting reports, it also implied that otter hunters could not be trusted. At this time the main justification for killing otters was the damage they did to fish stocks. These snaps, which had been taken by otter hunters, were lifted from local newspapers then republished with evocative captions. The chairman eventually agreed to put the resolution to the meeting and it was carried with acclamation. WebThe otters were then protected by the international fur seal treaty, which banned sea otter hunting. Although Collinson made a point of exposing these figures, he did not comment on them in any way. Hunting Otters with firearms was once common in the early twentieth century, but many preferred to trap them. men and women,Footnote Considering Johnston's establishment position and his enthusiasm for hunting in the Empire, this was a powerful request. This weekly magazine, first published on 1st October 1938, was a pioneering outlet for British photojournalism. Unlike the working men who may have regretted the spontaneous event, sportsmen not only celebrated their own form of killing; they had created organisations that expected it to occur on a regular basis. Finally the author of the original article, J. C. Bristow-Noble, responded resentfully that On behalf of some of these daughters of Eve, I have now to state that it is of their opinion that the quarry, as is frequently the case, should always be allowed to escape. Sport and the Otter, Cruel Sports, June 1929, 812; this had first appeared in The Western Mail, 1st June 1929. For almost 40 years, the otters in southeast Alaska scrapped by. The second letter from An Old Fashioned Sportsman denounced otter hunting on sporting grounds and used the Barnstaple cat-worrying case to strengthen his argument: I belong to an old family of Tory sportsman who have been brought up to view with disgust such amusements as involve the fiendish cruelty and worrying of one poor little animal for many hours by a motley crowd of men, women and even children, some armed with spears. . 39 57 The social image being constructed is of a group of people who are not just morally right, but are more decent than the hunters, who are by contrast portrayed as disreputable, aggressive and shameful. This opposition to the Bill was surprisingly effective. 24 Mr Collier's Otter Hounds were the last to abandon the spear in 1884, as his field did not care to see so gallant a beast suffer such an end.Footnote Instead, it tells the reader that the otter is hunted partly because it is tradition to do so; partly because he provides excellent sport, and partly because it is still necessary to regulate his kind.Footnote The large bold title above the image read, Women being blooded at an otter-hunt.Footnote A key criticism was of the voyeurism of watching the otter die. Wright, Catherine For Johnston, otter hunters were not cruel they were simply misinformed. First, he insisted that cats had been used, as he could not always get hold of a badger. 82 The passage not only stresses the moral inconsistency of the public, it also underlines the hypocrisy of sportsmen. 32 7. The word fun is the binding theme in Bates argument. . Members of the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports were also outraged by this murderous behaviour and equally critical of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but they had a slightly different response to the event.

Incident In Outwood Today, Unique Wedding Venues Fort Worth, Boudoir Shootproof 2021, Articles A