The St. Mary banner., 1920-04-24
WAR ON RODENTS.
Good Work Done by United
States Biological Survey.
Stockmen Of the West Apparently Do
Not Realize the Enormous Loss
Caused by the Activity of the
Little Pests.

The great gray wolf has slain his
thousands. but the prairie dog has
slain his tens of thousands. Thus
might the story Of Saul and David be
paraphrased on the great open ranges
OF the West, where there is no home
ward lea for the lowing herds and
where the sheep are not gathered at
twilight into the sheepfold.
There was a time, now happily fad
Ing into the dim past, when predatory
animals destroyed live stock to the
value Of S20OOO,OOO a year, but every
year. down to the present time, rodents
destroy on these same ranges forage
that would be worth S15O,OOOOOO
year as pasture for cattle and sheep
a destruction of that much potential
live stock value. These figures were
brought out by the United States bio
logical survey recently. The purpose
OF the comparison, primarily, was to
convince live stock men of the range
country of the necessity of closer and
more active cooperation with the gov
ernment in the destruction of such ro-
dents as the prairie dog, the ground
squirrel, the jack rabbit and the pocket
gopher.
1t Is estimated that each wolf on the
range destroys not less than $1,000
worth of stock each year, and these
1000 wolves. if they had not been de-
strOyed would mean a loss of not less
than 100000 to the stockmen annu-
ally. Other great stock loss would
have been caused by the 240 mountain
lions and great numbers of other pred
atory animals that have been killed.
All this saving is perfectly apparent
to the stockmen and they have got
stinted money In aiding the work.
States communities and associations
of individuals have made liberal ap-
preparations to supplement those made
by the federal government.
But the losses from rodents, great
as they are, have never been so strik-
ingly apparent. The rodent is individ-
ually Insignificant and comparatively
few stockmen realize the value of the
forage destroyed by the multiplied
millions of them. The prairie dog alone
occupies more than 100,00OOOO acres
of the best range land In the Rocky
mountain region, and his range Is over
Tapped in places by the ground souir-
rel, gopher and rabbit. The prairie
dog destroys from 10 to rs per cent Of
the grass in any territory it occupies
1t has been estimated by experts that
the ranges Of New Mexico would sup
port 100000 more cattle or 100000
more sheep than at present If the
prairie-dog pest could be altogether re-
moved.
One Of the simplest methods used by
the biological survey to- destroy ro-
dents Is to mix strychnine paste with
oats or other grain and spread the mix
ture in the neighborhood Of their holes.
or in places where they are in the hab-
it of feeding. OF course suitable pre-
cautions must be taken to see that cat
tie and other stock do not get any OF
the poisoned grain. Using this method.
one man in Arizona treated In one day
800 acres. Eighty quarts of poisoned
oats were used, the total cost, includ-
ing labor, being $9.79. AS a result Of
this, 1850 dead prairie dogs were col
lected from this area, but the number
killed undoubtedly was much larger, |
since q large proportion of the animals |
die in the burrows-Robert III. Moul- |
ton. In Pennsylvania Grit.