The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1915-07-29
QUESTIONS AFFECTION
OF MAD DOGS
Difference of Opinion Prevails as
to Whether Dogs Are Af-
f1icted With Rabies

, OF their strange actions, really af.
fected with rabies? That is a ques-
ton upon which there seems to be a
difference of opinion.
Mrs. John Star, who lives down the
! valley, believes the animals are not
mad, but afflicted with a malignant
disease resembling diphtheria. Not
long ago the two dogs on the farm, a
shepherd and small poodle, were
taken sick. Not wishing to take any
risks, both dogs were tied up. The
smaller canine died last week. An
examination showed that the dogs
mouth was highly infamed and the
throat so swollen that not even liquids
could be swallowed. Both dogs frothed
at the mouth, but neither one ex-
hibited any signs of wanting to bite
anyone.
The Index presented the case to DR..
H. Prestel, the veterinary. His opin-
ion is that the disease is rabies, and
be is backed by the result of the in
vestigations of the state bacteriolo-
| gist- He says the disease manifests
itself in varied forms and symptoms.
Some animals affected may have a
mania to bite everything and every
body they come in contract with;
others are very affectionate. He
strongly recommends that owners of
dogs confine them when they get sick.
A recent number of "Our Dumb
Animals" the national organ of the
Society for Prevention of Cruelty to
Dumb Animals, contained an article
on mad dogs, which strongly advised
against the indiscriminate slaughter
of dogs during an epidemic of rabies
and cites the following experience.
Some eight years ago the KIondike
was the scene of the greatest mad
dog scare l ever read or heard of. 1t
reached point where women and
children were ordered by the police to
stay indoors, while at every fork of
the trail all over that country was sta
toned constable with a gun shoot
ing every stray dog which appeared.
Dead dogs lay on every hand. Nu-
merous men and women were badly
bitten, at least one man died "raving
and frothing and refusing water
''In humility l confess that as editor
of the leading paper in Alaska, l had
unwillingly accentuated the foolish
scare. l admit having myself sug-
gested the shooting of dogs later tax
en- up by the police.
81 admit anticipating fearful epi-
demic of hydrophobia among the
scores of bitten men and women. /
admit great alarm in myself.
when the panic had reached its
highest 1 was approached by yes, in
justice let me give his true name
Mark Brady. Mark is man who was
living with the Indians in the interior
of Alaska long before there was
Klondike. He provoked my contempt |
by the fiat assertion that there never
had been a single case of rabies in /
Alaska. This when our Dawson panic
was, as l have said, at its highest.
"To cut a long story short he insist
ed that all that was the matter with
wogs was worms. He declared it be-
ing winter the dogs could not get
grass TO eat and being owned by
greenhorns-"Chee Chahkas" he
called them-the dogs were not being
fed a substitute for the grass-moOse
hide or caribou with the hair on. And
the dogs being strange to the country
had not learned to hunt and thus get
fresh hides for themselves.
Moreover another substitute, II
bones, was impossible for them to get,
the dogs being too numerous for the
little meat eaten in the camp. All
this, he said resulted in worms with
which all dogs are infested. Getting
the upper hand, forming clots, stop /:
ping the bowels, perforating the intes-
tine, and so driving the dogs mad.
''He challenged me as an editor to
come with him and investigate the
next dog killed. Hardly were we out
side my office when a pistol shot an
nounced another dog killed. We found
the dog still warm and easily opened,
and knob of maggots in the intestine
as big as my two fists.
"The bowels were perforated IN 10
places, with worms in the peritoneal
cavity. l thought perhaps this was
mere coincidence.
However, by following the shots, IN
two days l had, myself, or through