PROTECTING SHEEP FROM DOGS AND WOLVES 38 1 



these which are largely under cultivation. These losses 

 meanwhile do not grow less, especially in areas inhabited 

 by coyotes. 



The extent of the loss in domestic animals from 

 wolves has been put at five to 20 per cent. Even in the 

 Bad Lands of North Dakota, which are not distant from 

 cultivated areas, as much as 15 per cent of the live stock 

 has been destroyed by wolves in a single season. The 

 total losses incurred in Wyoming in the heart of the wolf 

 country have been estimated at more than $1,000,000 a 

 year. To this loss must be added the adverse influence 

 which the proximity of wolves exerts upon farmers and 

 ranchmen, many of whom would keep sheep but for the 

 fear of the loss that might follow. Those losses will 

 assuredly grow less in time as the country becomes more 

 completely occupied. 



Protective measures against wolves — The following 

 are among the protective measures adopted when seeking 

 to shield sheep from the attacks of wolves : (i) The use of 

 bells; (2) the setting of traps; (3) the use of poison; (4) 

 the off ering of bounties ; (5) the agency of organized 

 hunting; and (6) the agency of fencing. 



When a considerable proportion of the sheep in a 

 flock are furnished with bells, there can be no doubt that 

 for a time at least the bells will furnish some measure of 

 protection, as in the case of dogs (see page 371). It is 

 extremely probable, however, that in time the bells would 

 cease to frighten the wolves as at the first, and would 

 so far cease to protect. That ranchmen have not made 

 any extensive or general use of this means of protection 

 would indicate that they have no large measure of faith 

 in its effectiveness. In arable areas, where coyotes are 

 naturally more timid and wary than on the range, such 

 protection will probably be found more effective. Coyotes 

 are so wary and suspicious that they are not easily caught 

 in traps, and this wariness increases with increasing near- 

 ness to the haunts of man. Nearly all the coyotes caught 



