The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1898-12-16
SHEEP KILLED BY DOGS.
Facts Ascertained Through On
cial Census Figures.
The Damage Done by Worthless Ours
Exceeds That Resulting from the
Fury of the Elements
Showing by States.


the country every year. They killed
more than 100000 sheep in the year
ending June /, 1890, when the last sta
tistics in regard to the 1ocks were gath
cred. The damage done by them is
greater than that from any other cause
except unexpected storms, in which
whole focks of sheep are killed, and dis
ease In six states more damage was
done to the focks of sheep by dogs
than by anything else. In Florida 1888
sheep were killed by dogs, and only
4,75O by the weather and disease. The
number killed by dogs was about nine
per cent. of the total number of sheep in
the state. The Florida sheep are not
exposed to such changes in temperature
as those on the farms in Nevada, where
1928, $50 died of cold and disease. Only
1872 sheep were killed by dogs in Ne
vada in the census year. The enormous
number of deaths from changes in the
weather was due to unprecedented
storms, which caught the breeders un-
prepared and almost halved their flocks.
In South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Louisiana and Arkansas dogs do more
damage to sheep than anything else,
and more than weather conditions and
Rhode Island and Connecticut the urm-
Der of deaths in the focks due to dogs
is almost the same as that due to disease
and the weather. This is true in Mis-
sissippi, too. In this state, Maine, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Ari-
iona and the Dakotas. one-fifth as much
damage is charged to dogs as to the
other chief causes of loss.
IL 1,o el,r
Vermont, where they killed 1000 sheep,
| against 5000 which died from disease
and exposure in an average winter.
The Ohio and Michigan dogs have good
| records, too, for they killed only one
sixth as many sheep as storms and dis
ease North Carolina and Tennessee
dogs are red with the blood of sheep.
| They killed four-fifths as many as
the other causes of death combined.
In Kentucky, Texas, West Virginia, In
diana, Minnesota and Iowa the dogs did
one-half as much damage as other
causes combined; in Virginia, Missouri
and Oklahoma, two-thirds as much; in
Illinois and Wisconsin, one-third as
much, and in Delaware, Maryland, Kan
sas, California and New Hampshire,
one-quarter as much. -aE
the 1OOS-SO IldCl IOL Deen
bad one for sheep in Nevada, Oregon,
Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah,
! Washington and Wyoming, the dogs
would make worse showing in the cen
sus tables than they do. In these states
whole hocks on certain ranges were eX-
terminated, and thus the percentage
was raised to Cos for the whole coun-
|
cent. of the total sheep popula ton.
The sheep raisers don't like dogs
as a general thing. Many states use
| the money received from dog taxes to
pay for the damage they do In these
states some of the farmers are not un-
friendly to the dogs. If sheep dies or
is killed by a wildcat or falls from Il
ledge of rock, the thrifty farmer re
turns it to the proper officers as a sheep
| killed by dogs. Then he gets paid for
| it. Sometimes a New England farm
| er, when he loses q sheep, viii collect
the value of it from the county and from
the owner of the dog that Killed it.
! Sheep-killing dogs become wel-known
! in the community where their masters
| live. Sometimes the dogs are such
good hunters that their masters refuse
to allow them to be killed, and try to
! keep them from doing any damage.
| Such dog owner is an easy mark for
| the unscrupulous sheep breeders. Every
time a sheep is killed, dies or disappears,
! the owner will go to the dogs master
and demand pay for the dead animal,
threatening to have the dog killed if
its owner does not pay up. The dog
! may be innocent, but because 1t bears Il
/ bad reputation its owner submits. If
there are more owners of sheep killers
| than one, the farmer may collect from
! each and make a good thing of his
sheep. He may collect from the coun-
ty, too. .
Most dogs that kill sheep are bad
dogs all the way through, and sports
| men and farmers unite in trying to get
rid of them. A sheep-k:1lirg dog is
j usually a tramp, unframed ard worth
/ less for hunting. Many of the dogs
| that kill sheep are owneriess. The
farmers shoot them when they can, and
sportsmen, anxious that their dogs
shall rot be accounted Bad because OF
| the misdeeds of ownerless ours, help
them. Some farmers set traps for sheep
! killers. The traps are like wolf traps,
and are set where II sheep is killed, tie
| body of the sheep being used for bait.
Shee7-killing dogs usually visit the
scenes of their depredations AS mur-
derer IS said TO haunt the spot where