FOREST AND RANGE RESOURCES OF UTAH 53 



head of $25, the direct loss of livestock must have reached over 

 $2,500,000 annually. 



The loss of game can not be estimated in dollars and cents, be- 

 cause game is not a marketable product. 



Where predatory animals are on the ranges, the sheepmen must 

 be constantly on guard against raids by these pests. The sheep are 

 carefully rounded up at night and often are driven considerable dis- 

 tances to a point near camp so that they can be protected for the 

 night, a practice which injures both range and sheep, as has been 

 pointed out previously. The Forest Service has carried on experi- 

 ments with sheep on coyote-proof fenced areas where they were 

 allowed to graze unmolested and with an equal number grazed under 

 the herding system on adjoining allotments. The area grazed under 

 fence had a carrying capacity of about 20 per cent more sheep, a 

 heavier fleece was sheared, and the lambs at marketing time were 

 several pounds heavier. 



Control of predatory animals will result in the grazing of a 

 greater number of livestock on the ranges, better methods of hand- 

 ling, and an annual increase of thousands of dollars worth of 

 marketable beef, mutton, and wool. Also, beneficial birds, game 

 birds, and game animals will increase. 



BABIES OR HYDROPHOBIA 



Predatory animals, particularly coyotes and bobcats, are a serious 

 menace as carriers and spreaders of rabies. They were largely re- 

 sponsible for the spread of a serious outbreak of rabies through 

 California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah from 

 1915 to 1917, when several people died and hundreds were bitten by 

 rabid animals and had to take the Pasteur treatment. There were 

 two deaths in Utah, and approximately 150 persons took treatment. 

 A loss in livestock aggregating several hundred thousand dollars 

 also occurred. There have been several minor outbreaks since that 

 time, coyotes or bobcats being the carriers. 



These animals when affected by rabies often become very bold, 

 going into corrals, barns, and other buildings, biting everything 

 that gets in their way and even attacking people in houses. They 

 travel long distances and continue to spread the disease until they 

 die from its effects or are killed. Dogs and cats can be fastened 

 up or quarantined in infected districts as a help in checking the 

 disease, but predatory animals must be destroyed. 



METHODS OF CONTROL AND RESULTS 



Some of the stockmen of the West who realized that they were 

 suffering heavy losses from predatory animals have employed trap- 

 pers, and some have put out poison. States have passed bounty 

 laws and paid various amounts as an inducement for men to hunt 

 and trap predatory animals. All the Western States have tried 

 some kind of bounty system with different bounty rates and differ- 

 ent marking systems. Utah had a bounty law, as early as 1888, 

 even before it had statehood, which permitted counties to pay boun- 

 ties on predatory animals and rodents. The first legislature that 

 met after Utah became a State passed a bounty "law in 1897, and 



