Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-11-13
THE PRAIRIE DOG PEST
UNCLE SAM WILL TRY TO KILL
OFF THE ANIMALS.
Nearly Million Victims Have Fallen
Under the Poison of the
Executioner.

Merciessly, hut unostentatiously. Tn
Gle Sam has been on the warpath this
summer, and more wholesale murder has
been the result than at any time in the
history of the country since the ruthless
extinction of the buffalo. the savage ou-
Slaughts on the boil weevil or the stra-
tegic advances on the deadly mosquito.
This savage warfare has not been waged
With powder and shot, but with subtle
poison, aud the victims have not been
men or rattleSnakes. but the pretty and
apparently harmless prairie dogs.
The domestic dog may lay claim this
year To the hardest summer that has ever
been experienced by the canine tribe, be
cause of the hydrophobia scares, the
muzzling laws aud the deadly bullet,
but hard rs has been the lot of the city
Rover 1t has been a paradise compared
60 that Of the prairie dog, who has COM
pletely lost faith in humans since the
federal government began its work of
eXterminating whole communities of
these sportive creatures. All this has
come about, not because the prairie dog
is subject 10 rabies and needs n muIzle.
but because he burrows into the FERTILE
land of the prairies, undermines the
choicest fields of the farmer. eats the
bluest grasses. and in many other ways
makes himself obnoxious to the western
agriculturist, who is more concerned with
the success of his crops than with the
tricks of his pestiferous neighbors.
The department of agriculture, quick
TO aid the farmer in every possible way
took hand in the matter this summer
and, after trying several other ways of
humiliation, decided that poison was the
most practicable means of Kidding the
| soil of the pests. with the result that
nearly u million victims fell ut the hands
of the official eNecutioners. The dogs
are victims of their own appetites and
| pardonable ignorance, these faults ac-
| cording To their slayers, making them
| likely to become cs rare as the dodo bird.
| and perhaps limit their field of activity
| hereafter to the various geological parks.
| The prairie dog has made himself
! hindrance TO the march of civilization
with his underground habits and his
| omnivorous appetite, He has interfered
with the great industry of agriculture.
and MS he cannot adapt himself to the
| ways of civilization he must die. Ii il
probable that the prairie dog feels that
| he must live and that he must eat He
| likes grasses and grass roots, and has
i always made his home under the ground
| He has no concern as to whether he digs
| under a fine cornstalk or sheaf Of
blooming wheat He has been eating
for centuries undisturhed, and this new
condition alarms him, but he stays on.
If the prairie dog chooses spot that
| appears suitable for pleasant home
be gathers his kith and kin, and in n
comparatively short time lis tribe has
| multiplied at compounded rates until
| solid acres are not commouious enough
fer the family. They make the soil al.
most useless. Their holes are connected
| by miniature tunnels. SO that while tho
ground may appear solid, il is in reality
| unsafe and dangerous 10 man and beast
The death of many riders on the plains
| is a silent testimonial to the iniuuity of
| the prairie dog
The stockmen of the west urged the
| department of agriculture 10 take some
measures 10 check the increasing annoy
| ances from the dogs and the relentless
warfare followed. Range improvement
in national forests is one Of the chief
! objects Of grazing regulation, and the
! forest service was charged with the
work of determination The FIRST ex-
! periments were made in parts of Lead
| vile and Pike national forests where
the prairie dogs populated a territory
! ~ 3OO square miles. A dog town Of
seveuty-iiye acres was selected. aud poi
son was prepared by conting wheat with
| strychnne solution made nluring by mo-
| lasses and anlse seed, Il combination
which no prairie dog can resist. This
| poisoned wheat was placed at the mouth
| of each hole, and the men soon became
ride along on horse and drop the death
dealer with great rspidity.
| When the first night came and the
sound of horses hoofs no longer dis
turhed the village the town fathers
popped their heads out of the holes, and
after survey Of the ground saw that
the humans had disappeared. Shrill
shrieks Of delight came from hundred
families when il was seen that a meal
was already prepared. Without fear the
hungry dogs bounced on the wheat, and
in less than an hour the population of
the town had decreased about 90 per
| cent.
The crafty ones who escaped the, FIRST
feast, % rIfose vino were not hungry nc
that time were killed on the second trip
Of the foresters. and in a short time ey-
cry dog was dead. The action of the
poison Is almost instantaneous. the dogs
not having time To crawl into their holes
after feaating. Next spring the forest
service promises 10 go into the killing
business on q larger scale.