The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-06-30
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Mans Animal Foes.

In tHe 1OrtuCOuluS Scdl oooh, w NC
published three months hence, the de-
partment of agriculture will offer q
novel contribution to natural history.
The topic will be: animals Supposed
to be Foes of Mankind" and it will
tell about the mammals and birds ma
tive this country which are supposed
to be hostile to human beings and their
industries.
It cannot be said that in the United
States bounties have brought about
the determination Of a single species
of animal in any State. The rarity of
wolves east of the Mississippi river is
rather due to the settlement of the
country than to the number killed for
rewards. On the great plains, where
civilization has not encroached upon
natures domain to any great extent,
the wolves have not decreased percep-
tibly, Notwithstanding high premiums
paid for scalps. Almost undoubtedly
coyotes, which are a small breed of
wolves, have increased in California
during the last three years since the
bounty on them was withdrawn, so
that there are now as many Of them in
that State as ever. California, Mon
tana and Texas offered IS apiece for
coyote scalps for some time. the out
lay aggregating hundreds Of thous-
ands Of dollars; but the results are
unimportant. Iowa and Minnesota
are the only Western States which
now pay more than So per wolf scalp,
and in Iowa the rate for young wolves
is 50.
Meanwhile in some parts Of the
country wolves and coyotes arc very
destructive. In New Mexico they kill
from $3.50, 900 to $500, 900 worth of
sheep annually, and in Nebraska the
damage done to sheep is reckoned at
500, 900 a year. One difficulty in the
wolf problem lies in the fact that it is
impossible to secure the &C operation
of all the States. This lack of agree
ment on the subject of bounties in
general opens a wide door to &raud.
Scalps taken in localities where re-
wards are low are shipped to places
where premiums are high, and thus it
often happens that a county is com
PEELED to pay for animals that did not
belong to it. At the present time the
bounty on wolves and coyotes varies
from 81. so to IS, che latter price be-
ing paid in the Black Hill regions Of
South Dakota. In North Dakota it is
50; it is 50 in Montana and Wyora-
ing, and in Iowa it is IS, except for
young animals. Thus rewards may be
claimed proftably in Iowa for coyotes
killed in North Dakota.
The wolf bounty in Nevada was 30
cents when California vas Offering 50
for scalps. Consequently, thousands
of scalps were shippedfrom Nevada to
California, and large numbers of them
we're actually imported from Mexico,
so that California found herself get.
ting poorer at a distressing rate and
the bounty law was repealed. Owing
to ignorance of natural history on the
part of local authorities, heads Of
domestic fowls, cartridges, pheasants,
cuckoos, butcher birds, etc., were ac-
cepted and paid for as those of hawks
and owls under the "scalp act" in
Pennsylvania. The skins of dogs ard
other animals are frequently turned in
for those of wolves and coyotes. In
the case of small animals the heads
are sometimes accepted in n county
and the tails in another county, 80
that the premiums are collected twice.
One county in North Dakota, waging
wal on ground squirrels, first required
the head, then the tail, and a year or
two la.ter all four feet.
One interesting effect of the bounty
system is to encourage the breeding
Of the animals outlawed. 1t is is said
that in India many natives are regu-
larly engaged in the business Of propa-
eating snakes for the sake Of the
premiums offered by the government
for venomous serpents. There is no
doubt that the same thing has been
done in this country with various ami
mails For which bounties were granted.
For example, the eggs of hawks and
owls have been taken from the nests
and Matched under hens. In Iowa a
few years ago it was said to be more
profitable to rear coyotes for the
bounty than to raise sheep, and Ken
lucky and New Mexico have recogniz-
ed the possibility Of breeding wolves
by requiring affdavits showing that
the animals had not been raised for
the sake of rewards. British Colum-
bia, by the way, pays bounties for
wolves, coyotes and panthers, but re-
quires that the skulls shall be present.
ed to the curator of the provincial
museum for scientific Identification.
The pocket gopher is n OF the
worst enemies man has to encounter
in the animal kingdom. It does all
it's work under ground, the lines of it's
tunnels being marked by dead and
dying plants. Its burrow runs a foot
or less below the surface, and is dug
for the purpose of getting at the roots
on which it feeds. One may travel
for weeks in a region infested by
gophers, and yet see not one OF them
they labor and destroy unobserved.
The buffalo in their past abundance
were not one-tenth so numerous. The
gophers do not disappear before man,
but remain in the cultivated fields,
making havoc among the crops aud
killing the orchards. The little beast
is very brave, not hesitating to attack
a man on slight %provocation. When
young it looks strikingly like a baby,
being hairless and pink, with a round
head and fat hands. It runs back
ward as rapidly as forward through its
tunnels, and its equipment of teeth is
so admirable hat it is able to make
5000 cuts a minute Washington
Post.