The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-13
SHEEP INDUSTRY AND DEVOUR'
ING DOGS.

For a long time-perhaps a full quar-
ter Of a century or more-we have
been advocating a law in North Caro-
lima for the protection of sheep against
c~arnivorous dogs-for the promotion Of
the wool interest. 1t is not creditable
to the intelligence of our people that
up to this time the devOuring dogs
have had it their own way. They have
caused great loss in the last half GEN.
fury to North Carolina in the losses
of sheep killed and in the cost of the
vast number of the ours. North
Carolina is particularly we'll adapted
to sheep growing. It's climate and
pasturage are all favorable, and of the
ninety-six counties more than two
thirds-perhaps nearly all-can be
made to grow sheep and produce wool
with nue. profit, provided the all de-
vOuring ''dargs' could be disposed of
in some quick and certain way. Why
the North Carolina legislators have
been so cowardly as we'll as blind in
the matter of sheep raising and the
enemies of the sheep, the useless, lousy
dogs, is a puzzle to craftsmanship and
a stumbling block to editors. 1t is a
fact that up to now no Legislature in
any southern state has ever been bold
and faithful enough to turn down the
dog and protect the sheep and foster
the wool industry. A law limiting the
numbe of dogs should he passed, and
all wner should be held responsible
for the de%predations of their dogs.
Professor Massey, of the North Car
Dina experiment station at Raleigh, in
a reference to a a reported from
Virginia, say this:
What Mr.. Mann says about sheep
raising in ATbemarle, Virginia, is the
case almost everywhere, and so long as
sheep breeders wait for the legislatures
to pass laws for their protection, so
long will the sh~eep-killing dog range
the fields. The only remedy is for
sheep breeders to take the matter in
their w hands and no longer beg for
protection, but kill every dog that
comes on the land. The only remedies
for s~heep-killing dogs are the shotgun
and ~strychnine, and any farmer can
soon make his place an unhealthy re-
sort for dogs. I was ICE terribly an
noyed by dogs from a neighboring
town. I finally put a notice in the
paper of the town that after a certain
date my premises would be unhealthy
for dogs, and those who valued their
dogs had better See that they were
kept away. When the day came there
were poisoned beef heads on the field.
and I soon had thirty worthless dogs
in my compost pile. There was a howl
raised for a while. but Oon others be-
gan to protect their premises. and dogs
became less plentiful about there. |
know Of one farmer in Albemarle who
kills dogs that come on his place, and
he has little trouble from sheep kill
ing. Let sheep men all unite in the
determination hat they will not bs
longer trespassed upon and the mat.
ter will cease to be a bother. while tbs
country will he rid of thousands OF
fig for all the dog tax laws that were
eVer passed"
That is heroic practice. but it is right
and just. When a dog is a sheep
killer he ought to be killed. The
quicker and more unerring the deatt
the better for the farmer, the commu-
nifty. the state. The Chattanooga
Tradesman favors the Albemarle rem
edy. 1t says, and it is pertinent, that
"a single county OF east Tennessee
or North Georgia, holds more dogs, OF
all degrees, than the whole rural par
of Ohio"