Gunnison news-champion., 1923-06-08
BAND OF WILD DOGS MENACFS
LIVE STOCK NEAR HOTCHkISS

I Gran Junction News
a pack Of Wild dogs, the frst ever
knos1 10 appear IN Colorado or norta
OF Aroma, has invaded the Ragged
Mount country. forty miles west OF
HotcElas, and began a series OF
raid on cattle herds and sheep fiocks.
which threaten to cost the csttleuen
and sEcePmen thousands Of dollar,
unicss the animals are quickly exter-
minated
III dogs, according TO Stanley L
fouHE chief Of the L. S. Biological
sure which has begun the work OF
kiilirE them off, are more cunning
than a timber wolf and have the same
yicioue tendencies of that animal.
E.fr' reports Of the presence Of the
wild pack in Colorado reached the
biol0 0sl cal survey last October. Since
then four Of the number have been
klled
I ir"e were poisoned by Frank +.
DieErns, government hunter. The
ami ...s are so cunning that il is 4
raDo .~casion when hunter gets near
eno-EH 20 the pack TO use a rife.
/ s. the wolf, the dogs hunt in
pacs They are a special menace to
she hocks and in reports TO the
bio. zeal survey, II is said they at
tao "attle and especially calves.
" animals appear to be the off
spT Of the mating of female
col and timber wolf. In the ami
ma silled thus far, there is the un-
mi aEable indications Of the collie
bloai and wolf strain. The dogs al
really killed are especially large ami
. 10 EEEluktHgy in ln a.l
OF 100 pounds.
Until last October, Colorado was
free Of Wild dogs. They had been
known in Southwestern Arizona. New
MCE.cO and along the Mexican border.
1t is believed the dogs moved into
Colo rado after sheep fiocks that are
summer range from the desert coun-
Try.
Already it is estimated hundreds of
sheep have been killed by the wild
pack in the Hotchkiss district. and th,.
death OF at least one calf can be trac-
ed to them. Observers on the range
report that they have seen the pack
worrying cattle herds, and one of the
habits Of the animals, according to the
hunters, Is to chase cattle until they
- Z NSAAsAAHtfIf Nilfi Nft ailhCh anu
kill are made. Like the wolf, once a
kill is made, the pack feasts on the
carcass but never returns to it. For the
next meal a fresh kill is made, and on
account of this tendency, they are re-
garded Us a special menace 10 live
stock In the pack that has invaded
Colorado, there are ten dogs. They
live in dens burrowed in the mountain
-SA. opl A. thai ,,-ta
the pangs of hunger drive them onto
the trail of a fresh kill. So far as is
known the dogs in Colorado have not
made an attack on a human being, al
tho they are considered capable of
vicious nature.
The Colorado pack outnumbcrs by
one dog the famous Mayhill pack,
which played havoc with the cattle
and sheep herds in southwestern Ari-
zona until the last of the pack was ex-
terminated by government hunters in
1919.
In tracing the origin of the Mayhill
pack. which also showed the strain of
the wolf and the collie, government
hunters learned they were the off,
spring of renegade female collie
which listened to the "call Of the wild"
and left the home of her owner to
mate with a wolf. This pack, they
say, first appeared in the Arizona
mountains in the late SOS and con-
tinued to hold sway until exterminat-
ed.
In the killing Oft of the wild pack
in Colorado, the state board of stock
inspection commissioners is co-operat-
ing with the federal hunters.