DON COYOTE 157 



animals, and these in turn attack and commu- 

 nicate the disease to human beings. Serious 

 outbreaks of rabies are thus experienced from 

 time to time, especially in the more remote re- 

 gions where the coyote is still abundant.^ The 

 little spotted skunk generally gets the blame, 



1 So dangerous was the widespread outbreak of rabies among 

 coyotes and bobcats in Nevada and southwestern Idaho in 1916 

 that Congress made an emergency appropriation of $75,000 

 to help combat the disease. 



"During the year the State authorities of Nevada treated 

 more than sixty persons who were bitten by either wild or 

 domesticated animals. So great was the dread inspired by the 

 presence of these maddened wild animals that children were 

 accompanied to school by armed guards. Driven by their 

 rabid blindness, coyotes entered the yards of dwellings, attack- 

 ing dogs, cats, human occupants, or any object they might 

 encounter; they entered feed lots and snapped and infected 

 cattle, sheep, and other domesticated animals; and also at- 

 tacked pedestrians, horsemen, and automobiles on the public 

 highways. The destruction of live stock was enormous. In a 

 feed lot at Winnemuca, Nevada, a single rabid coyote caused 

 the loss of twenty-seven steers. The State of Nevada promptly 

 appropriated $30,000 to cooperate with the United States Bio- 

 logical Survey in waging a campaign against the pests in that 

 State 



"The movements of live stock between their summer and 

 winter pasture ranges, with accompanying movements of dogs 

 and predatory animals, made possible an extension of the 

 disease into the contiguous territory of eastern Oregon, southern 

 Idaho, northern California, the western half of Utah, and even 

 into eastern Washington. Cattle and sheep were destroyed in 

 large numbers through the extension of the disease, and at least 

 1500 persons were bitten by rabid animals." {Yearbook of the 

 Department of Agriculture, 1920.) 



