The Florida star., 1902-08-22
THE SUPERFlUOUS DUlIARD.

su8 WI ssO SSSVS SSs6sutSs l
Now Said tn Be Dangerous to the Stock
Interests of This State.
Cattlemen report that they have lost
heavily this season in the way of deaths
of young calves. Thousands of weak
lings only few days old have been liter
ally eaten alive by the hordes of buzzards |
that hover like pail over the cattle |
ranges. In the last few years, under the |
protection of the state laws, buzzards have |
been multiplying at tremendous rate,
and their numbers are so great that they |
cover cattle ranges like thunder clouds
1t is learned that this season they have |
become so desperate for food that they |
attack young calves, first picking out |
their eyes and then proceeding to pick |
their spines without waiting for the ami |
mails to die. The buzzards are so numer-
GUS that they have trouble in securinS
food in the regular way, and have been
apparently driven o'the execution OF an
imals, without waiting for a natural
death. These buZzards are protected by
the state law, but the cattlemen declare
that something must be done to prevent
them from destroying so many thousands
of dollars worth of cattle each season In
the manner named.-Tampa Correspond
ence Pensacola Journal.
This statement, says the agricultural
editor of the Florida Farmer and Fruit
Grower, may be, and probably is, exag-
gerated; but it is sufficiently apparent
that the buZzard in Florida has outlived
its usefulness, if it ever had any. 1t is an
insult to a civilized people 10 intimate
that they cannot maintain their premises
in a sanitary condition without the assist
ance of this abominable creature. Orr
entail peoples, too indolent and worthless
even to bury their own dead-as with the
Parsees, of India-need buZZards and sul-
lures to perform the awful duty of pick
ing their bones clean, as the bodies lie
exposed in the Tower of Silence. But
such unspeakable PROCLAMATION OF the hu-
man form divine is not permitted III
Christian America, and even the bodies
of mans humble friends and faithful
servants, the domestic animals, are de-
Gently hidden away from sight in the
bosom of the earth.
Now comes this disgusting winged vam'
pire, not satisfied with the remains OF the
dead, and preys upon the living, the weak
and defenseless members of the herd, tht
calves, the lambs and the pigs. clean
cold bullet is too good for its detestabl'
carcass, but it is the best We can do for II
just now.
1t utterly passes our comprehension
how any Legislature of Florida could eve
have enacted a statute protecting the ht
of this vile hvena of the air with pen
atty of five dollars.
4 South Florida contemporary says:
"The state of Florida imposes Il fine d
81 on anyone who kills a buZZard, and |
is a very sensible law, too. There
nothing that has tendency To keep
place clearer of decaying matter tina
these unsightly scavengers. The gaIbag
that will naturally accumulate aroun
kitchen windows il soon made way wit
bv the buzzard, and why they should
exterminated is n question not easll
solved"
Here again the services of tt
buzzard ought To be a supertluity. \
places. whether in city or country, oug
to be kept so clean that this bird nf io
nostrils would nut Ice attracted iowa
them. T1 ncglcc; :" do - Is We
common source of malaral diseases III
filth diseases, especially typhoid tevt
Anv properly regulated insurance COZ
many would char. d"ublr the rates
life insurance where lnZzards We
fiviug about Il house over those charg
where Were none
4 very simple | an Is Ia have a barr
swung between tw" wheels, stationed
the window, and when the kitchen was
accumulate let II be wheeled To dlstai
,,l l,,,,,aA urnnnd fruit trees.