Suicidal mania, again, which had hitherto
been confined exclusively to donkeys, became alarmingly prevalent even
among such for the most part self-respecting creatures as sheep and
cattle. It was astonishing how some of these unfortunate animals would
scent out a butcher's knife if there was one within a mile of them, and
run right up against it if the butcher did not get it out of their way in
time.
Dogs, again, that had been quite law-abiding as regards domestic poultry,
tame rabbits, sucking pigs, or sheep and lambs, suddenly took to breaking
beyond the control of their masters, and killing anything that they were
told not to touch. It was held that any animal killed by a dog had died
a natural death, for it was the dog's nature to kill things, and he had
only refrained from molesting farmyard creatures hitherto because his
nature had been tampered with. Unfortunately the more these unruly
tendencies became developed, the more the common people seemed to delight
in breeding the very animals that would put temptation in the dog's way.
There is little doubt, in fact, that they were deliberately evading the
law; but whether this was so or no they sold or ate everything their dogs
had killed.
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