Hind Bridget

The minstrels sing of an English King of many long years ago, who dearly loved to chase the stag across the royal wood, but had few other ways of amusing himself. In those days country squires and lesser gentry went foxhunting only when the woods were not full of staghunting nobility. Nowadays foxhunting is a complicated and difficult sport, but life for a master of staghounds is comparatively simple. He picks out a spot for the hunt to begin; the stag is carted to that spot. The hounds are not supposed to kill the stag, but nevertheless many people believe that staghunting is unwarrantably cruel. Last year there was the case of Bridget. . . .

Bridget was only a hind. One November day she was taken to Aldington and released. She began to graze, then made friends with a flock of sheep. The hunters shooed her and she made for the sea. Next day she was found on a beach. Into the water she went again. Finally lifesavers rescued her, took her ashore. She made a dash for her cart, knocked down four men, jumped in, went to sleep as the cart jolted back to her deer park.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals entered a complaint against Captain Edwyn Sandys Dawes, M. S. H., and Captain Ronald H. Fox, secretary of the hunt, for cruelty to a tame deer. Last week a magistrate heard the case. Prosecutor James Dale Cassels, M. P., charged that Bridget was terrified and trembling from cold when she was rescued. He quoted Captain Fox as saying:

"Poor old Bridget! She is 14 years old and is a great pet. She will be all right when we get her home in the warm and get the salt water out of her."

Counsel for Captains Dawes & Fox said Bridget was only six. No cruelty had been proved, said they. The Court agreed.

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