The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-03-02
OVER 200 STRAY
 DOCS ARE KILLED
 HERE YESTERDAY
Authorities Regret the Neces- sity for Shooting Them, But There Is No Time to Try
 to Catch Them


 slain by the city in the present cam paign against unmuzzled canines
 had reached the 200 mark, according to statement given out by J. D.
 Lathem of the city health department last night.
 It is understood the society for the pre-. vention of cruelty to animals Is some what disturbed over the summary way in which the officers must dispose of the stray dogs, but as yet, no word of : formal protest has been received by the authorities Mrs. W. N. Wood, president or the organization. who was inconfer- 1 ence with city officials yesterday, said the matter would b ediscussed at the
 next meeting of the humane society The organization is said to recognize the fact that the city must act quickly. and has no intention of attempting to interfere.
 Mrs. J. J. Gondolfo, 5l0 Twenty-fifth street, appeared before the city commis- sioners yesterday morning and urged
 that some manner of disposing of the dogs other than shooting them on the streets, be adopted Commissioner J, R. Hornady told her that the situation was such that the greatest concern was for killing the dogs quickly. and he saw no way, just now, of making a change in the method
 The city has entrusted the shooting to | carefully-selected men, all of them good shots.
 MUST WORK FAST City officials say the process of dog elimination must be handled at once. That in the course of the past few months
 number of people have been bitten by rabid animals, and the number of per sons taking the anti-rabes treatment at the laboratory is increasing. In such circumstances there is no alternative but to eliminate all stray dogs as speedily and effectively as possible. What has puzzled many physicians is the way rabies has developed in the state during the past two years. Several positive heads month have developed in different parts of Alabama for many years, but the present epidemic is said to be unusual and an addition to what scattered cases have been known from time to time during past years. That the spread is unusual has not been de- ned
 Health authorities have been on the lookout for the aggravated presence of the trouble here. During 1919 in Hous- ton county, there was a decided epi- demic Numbers of people in and about Dothan were bitten. From the dogs the 1 trouble spread to other animals. Dr. P. 1 P. Salter at that time head of the State Pasteur department, received heads of animals from the southern part, of the state almost daily. The majority of them proved positive cases of rabies Henry county soon was sending in heads | that proved positive. Dale Coffee, Ge- neva and even Escamba counties sent | their specimens. Nearly all were pos | itive. One cur puppy at Brewton was l responsible for the expenditure of over 1 5000 for expenses in taking the treat ment.
 l Troy, in Pike county, was lightly hit, but Montgomery and vicinity developed ! many cases.
 WARNINGS SENT l Dr. Salter sent out warnings through l the press. He traced the trend of the | spread as northwestward, and at the | time said Jefferson county would be
 alive to the situation by the spring of | 1921.
 I In the hunt for the source of the in lection, the authorities traced it to south Georgia and western Florida but other | than the indication that the disease 1 might have been brought in by boats, | with pet dogs that had touched at Car
 ribean islands, the origin was not ascer- | tained.
 l In his statements about the spread of rabies in 1919, Dr. Salter said that very probably the northwestward trend would be divided when the mountainous coun- ! try of the north-central part of the state
 was reached, the sick dogs stunning the highlands and moving toward north Georgia and western Tennessee. l NEW CASES 1 Sara Baty of 2019 Dartmouth avenue. Bessemer, who was bitten on the hand | by stray mongreI, also started treat
 ment yesterday
 l c. L. Mcdonald. 2s14 Seventeenth | street, who was bitten by a pet dog. l The total of patients now taking the | treatment has reached 50. and with the number who have completed the cure l the total for the month is 79. Only % l took the cure during all of 1920. ] The heads of three dogs were exan- ined and found to be rabid, yesterday, and three more dogs are under confine- ment awaiting death.
 l It is estimated that there are in the
 ghborhood of 5000 stray dogs in the the suburbs. The department expects to
 continue the present campaign until this
 menace to the city is ended
 1 A truck was provided by the city san- | itary department yesterday morning for | the purpose of collecting dogs killed. l Seven new patients are taking the 1 treatm ent for rabies, all having started yesterday. They are: Richard Nickens of Magella. his wife and three children,
 all of whom were bitten by rabd dog. 1TnlTTIn nIInFlII