PESTS AND THEIR TREATMENT 155 



devise a sure and certain method for finding and 

 killing the most cunning and capable of all Ameri- 

 can predatory animals except the wolverine. 



The eradication of the puma from certain dis- 

 tricts that it now infests to a deplorable extent is a 

 task of immediate urgency, and it should not be 

 lost to view because of the wolf question. At this 

 moment pumas are a curse to the deer, elk and other 

 game of the Yellowstone Park, the Kaibab Plateau, 

 on the western rim of the great Colorado Canyon, 

 and in southern and southeastern California. The 

 puma is very successfully hunted with dogs that 

 have been trained to trail it, and this is legiti- 

 mate sport in which outsiders may engage with 

 safety to the other game. Once popularize it, and 

 the doom of the puma is sealed. For all wild- 

 animal pests (except bears) that kill fifty deer or 

 elk calves per capita each year, we consider fire- 

 arms, dogs, traps and strychnine thoroughly legi- 

 timate weapons of destruction. For such animals, 

 no half-way measures will suffice. 



The rabbit plague in New Zealand and Austra- 

 lia, already mentioned, is so well known as to 

 require little comment. It is a useful illustration of 

 what a seemingly harmless animal can do when 

 circumstances enable it to live and breed without 

 restraint. The introduction of the rabbit into 

 Australia was deliberately done, to furnish sport 

 and an additional food supply. 



