230 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



example, in Virginia the fees amounted to $237,762.70 in 192 1, 51 and 

 to $260,000 in 1927, when 17,000 homeless dogs were killed. 52 All or 

 nearly all the states have laws fixing the responsibility of dog-owners 

 for damages to livestock by their dogs, and a uniform dog law for 

 all states has been proposed. 53 The loss of sheep through depredations 

 of sheep-killing dogs in Ohio in 1901 was placed at $152,034 and in 

 Missouri at $2OO,ooo. 54 In the old settled portions of the eastern 

 United States the dog hazard in the sheep industry is considered as 

 great as the coyote hazard is in the western states. Dogs also pursue 

 and kill deer, which is made a subject of legislation in some states. 65 

 In 1926 it was estimated that there were 7,000,000 dogs in the United 

 States. 56 



Dogs have always been the principal reservoir of rabies, which could 

 probably have been entirely stamped out by rigorous action and care, 

 but in the western United States coyotes, wolves and other carnivores 

 have now become infected, greatly increasing the difficulty of control. 

 A campaign against stray dogs is being conducted by the New York 

 Department of Health, in order to reduce the incidence of rabies in 

 the city. A recent report says: 



There is little doubt that the intensive collection of unwanted and stray dogs 

 has been the main factor in reducing the number of animals found rabid 

 by the Health Departments' laboratories. Despite the collection of enormous 

 numbers of dogs (70,000), the number of dog bites reported (nearly 14,000) 

 has continued to mount. An analysis of the dog bites reported during the 

 first four months of this year furnishes the explanation. At present the stray 

 dog is an infrequent source of dog bites; the chief offender is the dog 

 whose careless owner allows the animal at large on streets or in other public 

 places without being effectively muzzled as provided by law. 57 



The increase in the number of bites reported may not indicate a real 

 increase in the actual number of bites, but may be the result of a 

 greater disposition on the part of persons bitten to report the inci- 

 dents to the proper authorities and to apply for medical treatment. 

 It is very probable that dogs fondled by children and others who are 



61 5th Ann. Kept. Virginia Dept. Game and Inland Fisheries for 1921, p. 15. 



5 " California Fish and Game, x, 95, 1927. 



83 Coll, Sheep-killing dogs, Farmers' Bull., No. 1268, 1922. Revised by Simmons, 

 1929. 



54 Lantz, Coyotes in their economic relations, U. S. Biol. Surv. Bull. No. 20, p. 17, 

 1905. 



65 Russell, Menace of deer-killing dogs, Oregon Sportsman, i, 20-21, 1924; Journ. 

 Mammalogy, vi, 66, 1925. 



66 N. Y. World Almanac for 1928, p. 435. 



67 New York Dept. of Health, The Weekly Bulletin, as quoted in The Literary 

 Digest, July 23, 1932, p. 27. See also discussion of rabies in preceding chapters on 

 disease and disease disseminators. 



