Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-05
Tame Animals That Quickly De-
generate Into Wild Beasts.
TIE HORSE 4 NUISANCE IN THE WEST
Pigs, Sheep, Dogs, Cats and Goats
Also Do Damage.
RABBITS IN AUSTRALIA


| iious ptStS-naS, that IN certain parts OF
the world they have already done SOS
sufficiently striking to lend exceptional in
| terest to a bulletin on The subject thai viii
be included in the Forthcoming year book
| of the Department OF Agriculture.
| 1t appears that in some OF the western
| states wild horses have become a positive
| nuisance, and in 1897 Nevada passed a law
| permitting them to be shot. Recent re-
| ports from Washington likewise are to The
! effect that cay uses in that region are
| considered OF so little value that they are
| killed and used as bait for poisoning wolves
| and coyotes. In this connection il is worth
| mentioning that in some portions Of Aus
! tralia wild horses have multiplied To su.h
| an extent as 10 consume the grass needed
| LOT She"p ana other ANIMALS ana hunters
| nave been employed 10 shoot them.
Where cats nave run wild on isolated is
| lands their work can be more accurately
| appreciated. For example, Sable as
| land, off the coast of Nova Scotia, they
! were introduced about 1880 and rapidly vN-
! terminated the rabbits, which had been ia
| possession for at least half a century. Ia
one OF the harbors of herguclen land, 4
| barren ana oesolate bit OF antarctic terra
| tirma to the southeast Of the Cape Of Good
| Hope, cats, escaped from SHIPS, nave made
! themselves at home on little island
| known as Cat Island, which has been long
! used as wlnterlng place Tor sealcrs. H,Ie
| they live ia holes in the ground. prcSIus
| upon sea BlfdS and Their young. and are
| said TO have developed such extraordinary
| ferocity that ii is almost impossible IL
| tame them even when captured young.
Forests Destroyed by Goats.
Pigs have run wild in some Of the south
! ern states on certain Islands. where, as
| on the Galapagos, they were originally
| introduced to furnish food for crews OF
vessels in need OF fresh meat. The wers
| imported into New Zealand by ,,aiu
| Cook about 100 and, soon becomiu, ..t
| increased to a remarkable degree. t,u-
| fury later wild pigs were so abunuant IN
! the lax tho ketS OF the province OF TARA
! maxi, on the North Island tnat a hunter
! could shoot fifty in single day. In one
| case 2J,UUU wild pigs are said TO have been
! killed there by three hunters in less Than
| two years.
Sheep and goats when numerous are Tia
| bic 10 cause widespread injury, particularly
| IN fOreSted regions. An instructive exam
| pie of the damage done by goats is afford
| ed by ST. Helena, which Is Il mountainous
/ island scarcely nifty square miles in extent,
| its highest SUBMITS reaching an elevation
! of 200 ieet. AT NE time oi its discovery.
| ABOUT the beginning Of the sixteenth CEN
| fury, IL Is said TO have been covered by
| dense forest: today il is described as IA
| rocky desert. This change has been large
| ly brought about by goats. first introduced
| by The Portuguese in 1913, and which multi
| piled SO fast that in seventy five years they
| existed by thousands. Browsing the
young trees and shrubs they rapidly
| brought about the eStiuction OF the gege-
| tation which protected the steep slopes.
| With the dlsappeaI& e of the underground
! began the washing . the soil by tropical
rains and the destruction of the forest.
| Rabbit Scourge in Australia
The common rabbits of Europe were orig
inaily introduced into Australia for pur-
poses of sport. They spread over the coun-
| try like a scourge. So rapidly did they
multiply that in 1879 legislative action for
| their destruction was begun in South
| Australia and the example was soon fol-
| lowed by New South Wales, New Zealand,
| Queensland and Tasmania. Al the present
time their range in Australia is probably
equal in area to that Of three largest
states-Texas, California and Montana
Millions of dollars have been spent for
| bounties, for poisons and in various other
methods of destruction; thousands of miles
| of rabbit-proof fences have been built and
| hundreds Of schemes for destroying the
| animals he-Te been suggested. but nothing
| has vet been found that will effectually eN-
| terminate the pest.
Natural enemies, such as cats and other
carnivorous animals. have been introduced
and in certain parts Of New Zealand at
| least have become almost as much OF a
pest as the rabbits they were intended to
kill. In 1887 no less than Ia.IS2.539 rabbits
were destroyed in New South Wales alone
| but despite the efforts Of the government
and private land owners, the rabbits seem
to be still increasing In the meantime a
great industry has grown up in the export
New Zealand has been shipping an average
of about. 100000 per annum and since
1913 has exported more than 2UDUslU
Recently canning rabbit meat for export
to European markets is assuming larger
proportions and gives promise OF deNeI-
oping into an important Industry.
other Four-Footed Plaques.
Sable Island, off the coast OF Nova Scotia,
has suffered from several plaques Of rats.
and it is said that the first superintendent
of the light station and his men were at
one time threatened with starvation owing
to the inroads made on their stores by rats.
The common brown rat otherwise known
as the wharf rat or Norway rat, is Of
Asiatic origin and until 200 years ago was
unknown in Europe or America. In the
autumn Of 1927 large numbers Of this spe-
cies entered Europe By swimming across
the Volga, and, gaining a foothold in the
province of Astrakhan, in eastern Rus
STA, spread westward over central Europe.
Five years later they reached England by
vessels from western India. They arrived
on the eastern shores Of the United States
about 1I15 and by 1855 were abundant at
several points on the Pacific coast. The
black rat was the common house rat of
Europe in the middle ages and was intro
duced into the new world about 1874, or
more than 2oo years earlier than the
brown rat In Porto Rico and some other
islands the black rat has taken to living in
the crowns of cocoanut trees, to which lat
ter il does great damage by biting of the
unripe nuts, upon which it feeds.
Similarly, the rats in Jamaica are said
to have been driven to the trees by the
mongoose, which was introduced in 1872 for
the purpose OF destroying these pests of
the sugar cane. Nine We're imported four
males aud five females, and they increased
with such rapidity that soon they had
spread to all parts of the island, even to
the tops of the highest mountains As
rat killers they surpassed expectations
but, as the rodents diminished, they took
to attacking other animals, including
young pigs, kids, lambs. kittens, puppies,
poultry, ground-nesting game birds, lizards,
snakes, frogs and land crabs. Also they ate
bananas, pineapples, young corn, sweet
potatoes and cocoanuts. Thus before long
the mongoose proved itself nuisance far
worse than the enemy IL was intended TO
combat
In various parts of the world domestic
dogs run wild and have become serious
pests, devouring sheep and in other WAYS
making themselves a nuisance On the
Galapagos Islands they have helped large
y TO exterminate the gigantic tortoises
native to that group making a habit of
waiting for the eggs to hatch and then de-
vouring the baby turtles.