The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-06-04
CANNED JACK RABBITS NOW.
Their Use For Food May Save Millions OF
Dollars.


Dollars.
The Western genius who discovered that
there Is a market for canned jack rabbit
has probably sounded the deathknell of
the long-legged, long-eared, swift running
creature that has so long been pictur-
esque denizen of the prairie, says the
Brooklyn Eagle The first canning factory
has been established at Echo. Ore, and
thousands of jack rabbits are Slaughtered in
that vicinity every month to keep pace
with the demand for this new article Of
food. Other canneries to be estab-
lished in the west soon and the jack will
have no range that he can call his own
Not that the jack rabbit has ever been
free from the persecution of man. He has
ben hunted in various ways and for vari-
purposes, but chiefly sport. In Cali
fornla. Colorado and nearly every West
State where fruit is grown fruit grow
ers wage a rentless war on Jack rabbits
because of the destructive habits of the
animal. Jack rabbits have been known
to destroy huge orchards by gIrding the
trees and for this reason they are under
the ban Of the fruit growers. In Kansas,
Nebraska, Colorado. California and the Da-
kotas the sport of coursing has taken firm
hold large part of the public. and
this also results in the death of thousands
of Jack rabbits annually. In spite of these
forms of slaughter, however. and in spite
of huge roundup which have been held
to give the ranch population a holiday and
to combine pleasure with business, the
Jack-rabbit tribe has continued to increase
and 1t is estimated that they are nearly
as plentiful now as in the early days of the
West There is little doubt, however. that
the systematic hunting of the Jack rabbit
for market purposes will soon make inroads
on the tribe. and in time the Jack may le-
come as extinct the buffalo.
A jack-rabbit roundup In the West Is
fttI Of intA az 70 h. anti ka1
although It is apt to be anything but pic as
ant when the actual slaughter OF the an
finals tegins huge circle of hunters Is
formed, miles in circumference, and an in
closure. built OF woven wire high that
NJ jack rabbit could jump over, is the OBJ
jective point of the hunt. From the
trance to this Enclosure extend two fences,
broadening out as they leave the corral
Into this wedge-like space the rabbits are
to be driven, after which they will nat
uraly into the corral as the only exit
in sight there to be slaughtered at the
leisure of the hunters.
A hunt of this sort sage-brush prai-
ries where rabbits plentiful, will re-
suit in soaring up thousands of jacks. At
a recent hunt near the canning factory at
Echo. Ore, over 5000 American hares were
killed and two coyotes were caught 1t is
estimated that many rabbits escaped as
were killed. on account of the thin line
formed by the hunters
The sight the leaping rabbits rush
into the corral. driven by the shouting
hunters at their rear. is remarkable. The
big Jacks are terrified. and as they rush
into the entrance of the corral at top speed
their crowding. struggling forms. al
most entirely hidden by dust. Once in the
corral they rush hither and thither In a
frantic effort to secape. They leap high
against the fence and others try to bur
rTyn dnW IN e mol xyNfa
who is trapped with the rabbits is also too
frightened to do anything but try to
cape. He makes no effort to kill the rab-
hits, despite the fact that Jack is the
choicest food Of which he knows. When
the last RABBIT has been driven into the
Enclosure the gate is closed and then the
hunters enter with clubs and begin the
work of slaughter When the clubs be-
gin to descend and the rabbits fall dead
right and left the fright of the victims in
the corral becomes a veritable panic.
Higher and higher they leap against the
wire fence, but always they are flung back,
and the vicious club descends and ends
their existence Blood is scattered from
one end of the corral to the other, and
son the Enclosure is literally carpeted with
dead Jack rabbits. Strange as 1t may SEEM
the women who take part in these hunts
do not hesitate to seize clubs and take part
in the work of slaughter in the corrals
II the run has been for sport only the
animals are divided among the hunters,
but II 1t is for market purposes the ami
mails are beheaded and dressed and hung
in cold storage until tho cannery can use
them. The Oregon cannery is using about
1000 pounds Of jack-rabbit meat a day
and orders are said to be coming in so fast
that the cannery can hardly supply them.
Jack rabbits have always been a table
delicacy with Western ranchmen. Their
meat is stronger than that of the cotton
tail but when properly cooked it is very
pleasant TO the taste Now that the lack
rabbit is being introduced in cans to the
worlds kitchens it is quite likely that his
sphere of Influence will he widely increased.
and 1T is only question of time when the
establishment OF tack-rabbit farms for the
propagation of this table delicacy becomes
a common thing in the West