The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-02-03
SHEEP-KILLING DOGSl
Census Figures Show EnOrmous DAM
age Done by Them to the EIocks.

nearly two per cent of the sheep in
the country every year. They KILLED
more than 100000 sheep in tnl year
ending June 1, 1890, when the last sta
tistics in regard to the fiocks were gath
cred. The damage done by them is
| greater than that from any other cause
except unexpected storms, in which
whole flocks of sheep are killed, and dis
ease. In six states more damage was
done to the flocks of sheep by dogs
than by anything else. In Florida 1888
sheep were killed by dogs, and only
ALSO 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
| 12S,S50 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 changeslin the
weather was due to Unprecedented
storms, which caught the breeders I'M
prepared and almost halved theirfocks.
| In South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Louisiana and Arkansas dogs do more
damage to sheep than anything else,
and more than weather conditions and
| disease combined. In Massag o is,
| Rhode Island and Connecticut the nun
Der of deaths in the fiocks 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.
The dogs made the best showing in
| Vermont, where they killed 5000 sheep,
| against $4,000 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.
If the winter of 1SS9-90 had not been
a bad one for sheep in Nevada, Oregon,
Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah
Washington and Wyoming, the dogs
would make a worse showing in the cen
sus tables than they do. In these states
whole tiocks on certain ranges were eX-
terminated, and thus the percentage
of deaths due to exposure and disease
was raised to Cos for the whole coun-
try. The dogs killed nearly two per
cent. of the total sheep population.
The sheep raisers don't like Gogs
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 I'M
friendly to the dogs. IfaNsbee2 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 sheep
killed by dogs. Then he gets paid for
1t. Sometimes a New England farm
er, when he loses a sheep, will collect
the value of it from the county and from
the owner of the dog that killed it.
Sheep-killing dogs become well-knowu
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 INSCRIPTIONS sheep breeders. Every
time 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 II 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 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;lling dog is
usually a tramp, unframed and worth
less for hunting. Many of the dogs
that kill sheep are ownerless. The
farmers shoot them wnen they can, and
sportsmen, anxious that their dogs
shall not 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 sheep is killed, the
body of the sheep being used for bait.
Sheep-killing dogs usually visit the
scenes of their depredations as a muir
derer is said to haunt the spot where
he commits a crime. The farmers and
breeders count on this, and set their
traps accordingly. Sometimes they
put arsenic in the carcass to make sure
that the guilty dog shall not escape.
When a real sheep-killing dog gets
into flock of sheep he kills as mduy
as he can. He does not kill for food,
but for fun, apparently, and he finds his
prey easy, for the sheep can't fight
back, and don't know enough to run.
They don't run fast enough to escapp