4 FARMERS' BULLETIN 935. 



are ruthlessly killed every year by dogs, causing a monetary loss to 

 sheep owners of well over a million dollars annually. Yet the great- 

 est setback of all which the dog causes to the farm sheep industry as 

 a whole consists in keeping out of the business men who are other- 

 wise inclined to go into it. No farmer who wants to raise sheep is 

 likely to attempt it while his neighbors' flocks are being killed out- 

 right or chased to death. The moral effect upon all persons who 

 have seen sheep which have been wantonly destroyed or maimed by 

 dogs is even more destructive to the industry than is the actual dam- 

 age sustained. The humanitarian point of view alone should be of 

 sufficient import to cause steps to be taken to put a stop to the depre- 

 dation of the dog. 



NUMBER OF SHEEP KILLED BY DOGS. 



That dogs are a real hindrance to the sheep industry is not only 

 acclaimed by the testimony of thousands of sheep owners, but is veri- 

 fied by actual conservative satistics. 



An investigation by the United States Department of Agriculture 

 among sheep owners in 15 States east of the Rocky Mountains shows 

 that out of a total of 6,836,492 sheep in the 502 counties reporting 

 there were 34,683 killed by dogs in one year (1913) and paid for by 

 the counties. At the same rate of loss in other farm States the total 

 annual destruction of sheep by dogs would be 107,760 head. But 

 these figures are based only upon the number actually paid for, and 

 it is more than probable that the true losses far exceed this. It is 

 known that many sheep are killed which are never reported to the 

 county officials. 



In 1913 crop reporters in 36 farm States submitted estimates which 

 showed that the number of sheep in those States could be increased 

 150 per cent without displacing other live stock. Such an increase 

 would place approximately 34,000,000 more sheep in these States than 

 there are now. Of 1,411 answers received to the question as to 

 whether sheep raising is profitable in the farm States, 887 answered 

 " Yes." Of 894 answers as to the causes preventing increase in the 

 numbers of sheep, 531 said " Dogs. " 



HABITS OF THE SHEEP-KILLING DOG. 



Sheep-killing dogs work both singly and in groups, but usually in 

 twos or threes. They do not limit their attacks to the flocks of the 

 immediate vicinity in which they are kept, but travel for miles in all 

 directions, spreading destruction in the flocks with which they come 

 in contact. Because their work is so often done under the cover of 

 darkness it is almost impossible to catch them in the act of worrying 

 sheep, hence they can seldom be positively identified. 



The ways in which different dogs attack and destroy sheep vary 

 greatly. Some dogs simply kill one or two in a flock, while others 

 continue the attack until all the sheep are either destroyed or 



