226 RURAL MICHIGAN 



tion, which, however, did not prove very eiTective. 

 It has been necessary in certain districts to call in 

 the systematized efforts of the United States Bio- 

 logical Survey to reinforce whatever may be done 

 by the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commis- 

 sioner's department in ridding the State of these 

 noxious animals in the interest of the sheep in- 

 dustry. The problem of these destructive pests is 

 admittedly difficult. According to the expert in- 

 vestigations of the United States Biological Survey, 

 coyotes made their way into Michigan some ten years 

 ago and are now thought to number one thousand 

 individuals. Since they enter mainly from Wiscon- 

 sin and Minnesota, the task of dealing with them 

 is at least a tri-state problem. They have penetrated 

 nearly to tlic Straits of Mackinac (January, 1921) 

 and are likely to cross the Straits over the ice and 

 become at home in the southern peninsula as well. 

 Timber wolves have entered the State from Canada 

 over the ice of Lake Superior and were in 1921 

 considered to number some five hundred individuals. 

 Both wolves and coyotes have caused considerable 

 damage to sheep and to a less extent to other do- 

 mestic animals, as well as to deer and other wild life. 

 It was recommended that the present ineffective 

 bounty on predacious animals be abolished and that 

 local wardens, or deputized hunters, operating under 

 the immediate direction of the regular force of dis- 

 trict wardens of the State Game, Fish and Forest 

 Fire Commissioner's department, should be regularly 

 employed to destroy the varmints, and that the op- 



