Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1900-11-14
SHEEP ON ISLANDS.
Society for Protection of Animals says
they Must be Protected.


they Must be Protected.
The island sheep breeders OF this section
have run up against snag which will be
difficult to get over. The Maine State So
ciety for the Protection OF Animals has
issued the following notice:
"Ail persons owning sheep on the islands of
the Maine coast are warned to provide suitable
food, drink, shelter aud protection from the
weather, rs required by the statutes of Maine.
Owners of any sheep found unprovided, on or
after the 18th day of December next, will be sub.
ject to prosecution before the criminal courts
and the sheep may be removed and cared for Dy
others at the owners expense"
Few imagine the work and expense this
above notice entail beside the sheep own
ers themselves. In many cases it would
be entirely impracticabie to attempt to
try to shelter some of these island sheep.
There are thousands of sheep on the is
lands on the Maine coast which the own
ers say have lived there generation after
generation for the past thirty or forty
years, without the support OF man, and
could no more be coaxed or driven into a
building than could the deer OF Washing
ton county.
Many times when Introducing inland
bred sheep on these islands, shelters have
been built for their protection, but after
wintering there once, the shelter has been
abandoned by the sheep IS a rule, but
where the sheep would go into one Of
these buildings it was always the case hat
the weak one would be trampled to death
before spring, and the remainder which
otherwise would have be- moving about
would come out very poor in the spring
compared with those which sought
shelter in the lodges and woods, where
woods existed.
Several years ago similar notice was
given to the island sheep owners, and
through the influence of a delegate the
protective association sent an inspector
down along the coast to visit the islands
and see the condition of the sheep. The
investigation was not very extended, for
what they saw on a few Of the islands
was enough to convince them that the
sheep were in good condition, and they
reported at headquarters that the island
sheep were fsring much better than those
they had seen at the farms on the coast,
and were looking in much better con-
dition, so the threats were not enforced.
Prof. l.. B. Harris, Of Vermont, last
winter visited the islands to investigate
the island sheep he had heard SO much
about. He remained on the islands several
days and made a thorough investigation.
Upon returning from the islands he gave a
| lecture at Machias in which he stated that
| healthier sheep he never saw. They had
! just passed through one of the severest
storms OF the winter, and he expected tC
see he island strewn with dead sheep, but
instead he only saw one dead sheep W hils
there, and there were over 400 on the is
| land.
The meeting was largely attended by
island sheep breeders, and among those
who spoke, all reported their sheep il
perfect condition, and none were paying
any attention to them except at sbearinl
time. The matter of housing the isianc
sheep will create considerable interes
before it is settled.