No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 367 



and from last March to November I was called upon live times to 

 prove slaeep that were killed by dogs. There does not seem to be any 

 law to cover this, and it is a matter of interest to Warren as well 

 as to Washington county. I think the Legislative Committee could 

 do nothing that would benefit one branch, at least, of our live stock 

 industry more than to better protect the sheei> industry from the 

 ravages of dogs. The unfortunate part of it is, in my section, that 

 it is a lot of irresponsible and non-ownable curs that do this dam- 

 age, and unless there is some law by which these curs can be shot at 

 sight there is not much redress. The farmer who keeps a dog cares 

 for him and feeds him, and houses him at night, and he knows where 

 he is. It is the dogs that belong to people who are too poor to own 

 anything else, that cause the trouble. They expect them to sponge 

 their living olf other people, and 1 want to endorse what this gentle- 

 man has just said, that it is important that there should be some 

 restriction. We are the only county in the State under the Blair 

 county law 



ME. CLARK: What is the purport of that law? 



MR. WELD: It is simply this: That if you have sheeep killed by a 

 dog you call upon the township auditor and have him come and as- 

 sess the damages. Now, all dogs are taxed 50 cents each, which goes 

 into the county fund as a special tax to defray damages done by dogs. 

 Now, if you have a sheep killed by a dog, you call upon the county 

 auditors, and they come and inquire whose dog it was and assess 

 the damages. 



MR. CLARK: Well, isn't that the State law? That is the State 

 law. 



MR, WELD : I think in some respects it is diiferent from the State 

 law. 



The SECRETARY : I think the State law provides for one dollar 

 or two dollars, according to the sex of the animal. 



Mr. CRARK: Without any option for the auditors? 



The SECRETARY: If the owner is willing to pay the price of the 

 dog, the dog is saved; if not, he is killed. 



MR. WELD: In our county that is not the law; if I catch a dog 

 within my enclosure, I can kill him on sight. To illustrate this: 

 There is a dog in our town that has been caught three times doing 

 damage, but we can't catch him on the premises. 



MR. CHUBBUCK: I have had some little experience in this line; 

 I am a raiser to some extent, having sometimes as high as a hundred 

 head. I am also an auditor, and I have spent many days for the dol- 

 lar to prove sheep that were killed by worthless dogs. Now, a large 

 part of the trouble in our county is with hunting dogs. They chase 

 the sheep. They may not kill it outright, but they chase it so that 

 it either dies from it, or is injured so that it has to be killed. They 

 get in among the sheep and scatter them in every direction. I have 

 had this experience within the last few days, and last year, when I 

 was down here attending a meeting of the Board, the dogs got into 

 the tract where my sheep were and worried them so that when I got 



