The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-16

waged within the borders of the
United States, neither side asking
nor granting quarter. No armistice
will be signed, and there will be
no peace terms. The end of the
battling will be the extinction OF
| one element in the conflict. On one
side are ranged between four and
five hundred government hunters
/ professional killers employed by
the biological survey OF the depart
ment of agriculture. On the other
side are aligned all the predatory
beasts of the nation. from ground
squirrels and jack rabbits up &c
fierce stock-killing mountain lions
bears and wolves.
Hundreds of millions of dollars
damage is fdone annually by wild
animals. The big killers like the
wolves and bears take tremendous
| toll in the lives of cattle, sheep and
horses on the western ranges, hut
the greatest damage is done by
gophers and other smaller animals
who destroy pasturage capable OF
supporting millions of cows and
sheep. The damage done by the
predatory beasts is estimated at
$500, 100000 a year.
| Unfortunately, it is not easy to
arouse interest and secure coopera-
ton in destroying the smaller and
more numerous pests. The dra-
matte appeal of hunting wolves and
bears makes it easy for the govern
ment hunters to pursue this work
with success. These destroyers are
diminishing fast
/ Money was first provided for
lslaying predatory animals, big and
little, in 1915, Since then there has
been an annual appropriation, and
as a result 100000 beasts, big and
little, have been dispatched to the
happy hunting ground by the rife,
traps and poison bats of the fed
eral nimrods For instance when
the work started in New Mexico
there were 800 gray wolves. cattle
i killers of the worst sort. Now there
are but a score, and soon there will
be none
Three-quarters of the 100000 an
imals slain have been coyotes, but
the total includes some 1000 gray
wolves, each one of which destroyed
live stock in the course of a year
valued at $1,000. The total includes
240 mountain lions, each capable of
fearful destruction of cattle and
sheep. But the humble prairie dog
still occupies some 100, 900, 900 acres
of the best range land in the Rocky
Mountain region. Prairie dogs de-
stroy from 10 to rs per cent of the
grass in the districts they inhabit,
which means that in New Mexico
alone, if the rodent was cleared out,
there would be saved pasturage
enough to support 100000 addition
al cattle, or 100000 sheep
Victims of the Killer.
Some of the big animal outlaws
tracked to their doom by the gov
eminent hunters have had long and
bloody records. One mountain lion
was bagged in Wyoming which was
known to have killed $1,000 worth
of live stock in a mouth. Another
was killed which had a record of
Staying seven colts in the spring of
one year. A pair of wolves was
shot in Wyoming which had caused
$1,000 damage in single year. a
ranch owner in Texas reported that
he lost nearly three hundred sheep
in year through the depredations
of six coyotes Later the whole
band, was accounted for by the gov
ernnient hunters
Killing the larger beasts, partic-
ularly the wolves, in some parts of
the west is also appreciation for the
protection of human life and health,
as they often carry rabies. About
fifteen hundred persons are known
to have been bitten by rabid wolves
and half a hundred deaths are Of
fcially vouched for. Herds attack
ed by these. crazed animals suffer
terrific destruction.
Biographies of some of the big
beasts killed by Uncle Sans rifles |
and traps are stranger far than an
imal fiction. The most recent of !
the well known animal criminals to |
fall before these hunters was an
enormous black bear killed near Big |
Piney, Wyoming. Not only did this I
powerful and crafty animal ravish /
the fiocks of sheep with great reg
ularity, but took delight in soaring |
the sheep so that in their haste to !
escape the awful fate threatened :
them they stampeded, the fleeing |
animals behind piIing up on those /
in front of them, smothering many |
to death. The worst trick of this /