•10 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



During the past two years the Los Serranos Game Farm has had 

 to contend with a serious problem in the form of quail disease. The 

 disease has been responsible for a high rate of mortality among both 

 mature breeders and young birds and the annual production of quail 

 has been greatly reduced in consequence. An investigation of the 

 nature of the disease and possible means of control is being carried on 

 in cooperation with the University of California and other agencies. 

 The experimental vaccination of a number of birds during the 1938 

 season did not yield the expected results and it will be necessary to 

 devise some more effective treatment if the large scale production of 

 valley quail is to continue at Chino. Chukar partridges and other 

 species of game birds reared at Chino have not been affected by this 

 disease. 



The California valley quail is not only subject to disease when 

 confined on the game farm, and it has been demonstrated on several 

 occasions that wild birds also suffer from maladies which are frequently 

 responsible for the decimation of coveys over considerable areas. It is 

 when we are faced with conditions of this kind that we realize how 

 pitifully meager is the information that we have relative to disease 

 among wild game species. The outbreak of quail disease at Chino 

 brings home to us again the crying need for a disease research labora- 

 tory which will provide us with the knowledge that w^e must have if we 

 are to successfully combat these epidemics. 



August Bade, Superintendent, 

 Game Farms of California, 

 Yountville, California. 



PREDATORY ANIMAL CONTROL 



During the month of July, 1936, an entirely new principle was 

 injected into the Division's Predatory Animal Control organization. 

 Before entering into a detailed discussion of this new departure from 

 the old scheme of things, however, it will be well to briefly summarize 

 the history of the Division's Predatory Animal Control Program — 

 exclusive of lion hunting — from the time of its inception up to the 

 beginning of the present biennium. 



Although this Division has been engaged in the control of moun- 

 tain lions for many years, it w'as not until January, 1932, that an 

 organized trapping campaign was launched for the purpose of con- 

 trolling coyotes, bobcats, and other predators. At this time nine 

 trappers were employed to control predatory species within the bound- 

 aries of State game refuges and in other game concentration areas. 

 The staff of trappers was maintained at this level until June 30. 

 1933, when — due to the lack of funds — the number of men was reduced 

 to fonr. Shortly after this, the addition of one more man was made 

 possible and this group of five constituted the Division's entire trap- 

 ping force up to July 1, 1936. 



All of the trappers who were employed during these first few 

 years were drafted from the ranks of experienced trappers who had 

 learned their business trapping for fur and bounty in various parts 

 of California. Not one of them had received any formal in.struction 

 in predatory animal control methods; their only training being that 



