The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-02

| ,,ot seem inclined to do so. The advo-
| cates If the bounty system have notioh
| that any species of animal can ne eAteI-
| minated in a short time II the premiums
| owe bieh enough This is a mistake Nr-
| einia has encourage the killing OF wolves
| almost from the first settlement OF the
| colony and has sometimes paid as much
| ae s25 for the peits of those maraudlns
| beasts; vet the wolves in that state were
| not extermnated until about the mluule
| ~ This century or until the rewards had
| been in force more than 200 years, IN
| England wolves were not wholly eXtirpat-
| ed until the beginning of the sixteenth
| century though war was carried on
| against them continuously from King Ed
| CARS time, $50 to 975. France, whlch mas
| maintained bounties on wolves for more
than a century, found it necessary IN nv
| to increase the premium from SSV 10 $4o
II cannot be said that in the United
| States bountes 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 num-
| Der killed for rewards. on the great
| plains. where civilization has not encroach-
ed upon natures domain to any great eN-
| tent the wolves have not decreased per-
| ceDtibly, Notwithstanding high premiums
1 y
/ otes, 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was withdrawn, so that there are now as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. CAR
| ifornia Montana and Texas offered 50
| apiece for coyote scalps for some time the
| outlay aggregatipg hundreds OF thousands
| of dollars; but the results were unimport-
| ant 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 are very destructive.
In New Mexico they XIII from $4,000 to
100000 worth of sheep annually and In
| Nebraska the damage done to sheep is
| reckoned at 100000 year. One difficulty
| in the wolf problem lies in the fact that IL
| is impossible to secure the cooperation OF
| all the states. This lack of agreement on
the subject of bounties in general opens a
wide door to fraud. Scalps taken in To-
| calities where rewards are low and ship
| ped to places where premiums are high,
| and thus it often happens that county Is
| compelled 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, the latter price being paid in the
| Black Hills regions of South Dakota. In
| North Dakota it is 81; 1t is 50 in Montana
and Wyoming. and in Iowa it is s., except
for young animals. Thus rewards may be
| claimed profitably i'm Iowa for coyotes
killed in North Dakota.
The wolf bounty in Nevada was 50 cents
| when California was offering s. for
| scalps. Consequently, thousands of sealps
were shipped from Nevada to California,
| and large numbers of them were actually
| imported from Mexico, so that California
| found herself getting poorer at a dis
! tressing rate and the bounty law was re-
pealed. Owing 70 the ignorance of natural
! history on the part of local authorities.
heads of domestic fowls, partrldges,
! pheasants, cuckoos, butcher birds. etc.
we're accepted and paid for as those Of
| hawks and owls under the scalp act' in
] Pennsylvania. The skins Of dogs and
other domestic animals are frequently
| turned in for those Of wolves and coy
/ otes In the case of small animals the
| heads are sometimes accepted in one
/ county and the tails in another county,
\ so that the premiums are collected twice.
! One county in North Dakota, waging war
on ground squirrels, first required the
| head then the tail, and year or two
! later all four feet.
! One interesting effect Of the bounty sys-
| tenn is to encourage the breeding OF the
| animals outlawed. IL Is said that In In
! dia many natives are regularly engaged
/ in the business of propagating 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
I animals 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 u was said to be more profitable to
rear coyotes for bounty than 10 raise
/ sheep, and Kentucky and New Mexico
/ have recognized the possibility of breed
| ing wolves by requiring afiidavits showing
| that the animals had not been raised for
| the sake Of rewards. British Columbia,
| by the way pays bounties for wolves,
| coyotes and panthers, but requires that
| the skulls shall be presented 10 the curat-
l or Of the provincial museum for scientific
| Identification.
! Maine has encouraged the killing OF
/ bears since 1898, but the returns for the
\ last Ave years show no decrease IN the
/ number Of scalps presented for the boun-
/ ties. New Hampshire has been paying for
! bears much longer than Maine. hut IN 1891
| the state treasurer called attention to the
] large number reported by four or 1--WE
| OF the towns adding that should the 23i
! other towns IN the state "be equally sue
! cessful IN breeding Wild animals for the
/ state market. Il would require a tax levy
! Of 100000 to pay the bounty claims"
/ This may be said TO approach the humor-
/ Gus. New York withdrew the premium
on hears IN 1895. because the number OF
| those animals killed had increased steadi-
| ~ year after year.
| ff results are 80 unsatisfactory In the
! case Of large animals. what il to be ex-
| pected when hOunties are offered for
ground squirrels. pocket Rophcrs and "a ID
! bits. which are immensely more numerous
and against which legislation has been
/ extremely desultory? The destruction OF
! 10000 ground squirrels In one county In