QUITE a commotion was caused when a bull went on a rampage after escaping from Haslingden Cattle Market (LET, May 30). Perhaps suspecting the inevitable, it made a desperate attempt to avoid the slaughterhouse.

If, as was claimed recently by Professor Stanley Curtis following his experiments into the responses of pigs to interactive games, animals have a higher intelligence than they are usually credited with, so this unfortunate bull could have been well aware of its demise.

Prior to town councils establishing borough abattoirs, slaughterhouses were registered at various locations to anyone with suitable facilities and, consequently, animal escapes were a common occurrence.

One such instance was of a bull escaping in 1879 from a slaughterhouse behind the George and Dragon Inn in Northgate, Blackburn and running to the Market Square, followed by those in charge of it, and then along Victoria Street, where it hit a lamp-post at Richmond Terrace and fell to the ground.

The police, with permission, slaughtered the animal on the spot, watched by a large crowd.

J A MARSDEN (MR), Scarborough Road, Blackburn.

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