deer-fly fever, was th^ aame plague that kills great n-ura"bers of cottontail, 

 snowshoe, and jack rablsits in all pdirVB of this Cotmtry and that we now 

 call tularemia. 



Dr. Bell no^ed tliat f|Lccks of quail were rejiorted to he wiped out hy 

 sohie mysterious cause khout the same time that r'aohit plagues were prevalent, 

 investigation was madS^ knd the same sort of ticks that carry tularemia from 

 rahhit to rahbit were found on quail. It seems likely theirefoi'e that numbers 

 of quail are swept away by the tularemia carried by these ticks. 



But that is not all. Ruffed grouse were found to be susceptible to 

 this sam.e killing malady. This disease also can be transmitted to a human 

 being v/ho skins a diseased v/ild rabbit. ITo case of tularemia has ever been 

 diagnosed in domestic rabbitries, although it has been p.-' oduced in rabbits in 

 laboratory experiments, iaiimals' in commercial rabbitrie^' are seldom 

 exposed to the insect carriers of tularemia. 



Uor does this story of the inter-relationship of one animal plague 

 end there. I^oxes and wolves prey upon rabbits, and are a.^so subject to 

 diseases that are now thought to be responsible for the p or trapping in 

 some seasons. Our fur trade may, in that way, be affectea by this same 

 titouble. Uncle Sam's scientists are looking into that possibility, also. 



So you see that's just part of the case against one animal plague. 

 Warble flies similar to those that do serious damage to reindeer hides in 

 Alaska have recently been found to be causing trouble among deer in 

 Pennsylvania. 



Insects not only do direct damage, but often act as carriers of disease 

 germs from one kind of animal to another. That is the reason the entomolog- 

 ical detectives have had to be called in to help trace the many puzzling 

 causes of increases and decreases in v/ild life, 



^"^hen you realize that most insects change form one or more times 

 during their lives and may infest one animal at one stage of their develop- 

 ment and another animal at another stage, you can see what a job it is 

 sometimes to trail these troubles tiirough all their ramifications. 



Sometimes, Dr. Bell tells me, diseases may be carried from domestic 

 animals on a farm to the "untamed animals of the wild. Or again the wild 

 animals may serve as a reservoir of infection for our domestic animals, or, 

 as in the case of tularemia, for human beings. The danger has increased as 

 livestock farming has increased, and as cities have grown. 



Hunters should take care while in the open to avoid as far as they 

 can the bites of deer flies and ticks, and other known carriers of tularemia. 

 Use rubber gloves when handling or dressing rabbits or when skinning other 

 animals that may be infected with the disease, so as to avoid contact with 

 the blood or entrails. Do the same in handling fresh skins. One attack of 

 tularemia in believed to make a person immune from, later attacks. That 

 may be very well, if you recover from the first attack. Out of 500 human 

 cases reported in the United States, 20 have ended fatally, llo effective 

 medical treatment for tularemia is yet known. 



