CAPE HUNTING DOG OR WILD HONDE 



retire. Instances are on record of them attacking 

 and devouring natives, as do their cousins the 

 wolves in Russia at the present day. Europeans 

 on foot have frequently been threatened by them, 

 but they seem to have a great dread of man on 

 horseback. The reason, no doubt, is that horses 

 are associated with men carrying firearms, for 

 hunters seldom venture out into the wilds on foot. 

 An unarmed man on foot would stand no chance 

 against one of these large and powerful wild dogs, 

 if it thought fit to attack him. 



When taken captive as puppies, wild dogs can 

 be tamed very effectually, but the evil character 

 of their kind sometimes asserts itself. It is stated 

 that when crossed with domestic dogs the offspring 

 is a mongrel of bad character. 



The Cape Hunting Dog is an animal which has 

 served its purpose in the economy of Nature. 

 Wherever man settles down to take possession of 

 the land, this dog is one of the creatures which he 

 must spare no effort to destroy, for, until they are 

 all exterminated, he cannot live in peace. It is 

 an animal doomed to extinction, and rightly so, 

 for from a human point of view it is without a 

 redeeming trait of character. 



Its work before the advent of man was a good 

 and useful one. Man has replaced it, and the two 

 cannot live in proximity. 



In shape the Wilde Honde is wolf-like. The hair 

 is short and in many it is scanty. The general 

 VOL. ii 129 9 



