230 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



break of rabies would be brought to a speedy termination by 

 bringing to an end a system of dog management that has 

 driven the sheep industry from Massachusetts, and allows 

 this privileged species of domestic animal to prowl around 

 destroying human life and other domestic animals and fowls, 

 — an animal that under these conditions may be as much a 

 menace to the welfare of the community as the wolf or the 

 fox. The dog should be a luxury, and not a necessity ; the 

 tax upon him should be higher, — at least $5 for a male or 

 spayed female, and flO for an unspayed female ; and there 

 should be no kennel tax, as at present. Owners of dogs 

 should be compelled to keep them under control at all times. 

 If allowed to run at large at all, they should be required to 

 l)e properly and securely muzzled, otherwise owners should 

 be compelled to keep them on their own premises, or when 

 on the street they should be kept in leash. 



The dog-licensing law should be strictly enforced, and 

 also the provision of the law that requires that every licensed 

 dog shall have a collar around his neck, with a })late with the 

 owner's name and license number engraved thereon. 



Some of the cities and towns of the State have during the 

 past year issued orders that dogs shall be muzzled or re- 

 strained from running at large, under the authority' given to 

 mayors and aldermen of cities and selectmen of towns by 

 section 158 of chapter 102 of the Revised Laws; but there 

 seems to have been yery little concerted action, one com- 

 jnunity issuing an order just as a similar one went out of 

 effect in an adjoining town ; and in many instances the 

 police seem to have paid little or no attention to enforcing 

 these orders. In some quarters there seems to be more sym- 

 pathy for the dog and more people to stand up for his rights 

 than there are people to sympathize with the victims of his 

 l)ites, or to stand up for the rights of holders of other prop- 

 erty. An order has just been approved by the Governor 

 and Council giving the Chief of the Cattle Bureau authority 

 to issue muzzlino- or restrainincr orders, where the local au- 

 thority neglects or refuses to do so ; and by this means it is 

 hoped that a greater amount of co-operation among cities and 

 towns in infected localities can be secured. 



