Live Stock. 244 



report to Brigadier-General Pershing I 

 recommended that payment be made 

 for part of the value of these animals. 

 The provincial authorities fully realize 

 the justice of such payments, but in view 

 of its revenue available the province is 

 not able to reimburse the owners. 



As a result of the methods instituted 

 no cases of rinderpest developed in the 

 town of Davao after January 16 and 

 none in Taloma after January 12. The 

 cases in Taloma were the last discovered 

 south of the Davao River, so from the 

 middle of January we were able to con- 

 centrate our efforts on the district north 

 of the river. Considerable losses were 

 sustained in this district during the 

 latter half of January due to infection 

 occurring among animals at Sasa and 

 at Panacan. The disease persisted in 

 these two barrios until February 2, 

 but offered no danger to other animals 

 as they were secured under guard and 

 subject to daily inspection. 



The last case appeared en February 2 

 and the quarantine was maintained iu 

 full force until March 2 in accordance 

 with the plan decided upon during the 

 inspection trip of the Director of Agri- 

 culture to Davao on February 17. 



Realizing that some danger remains 

 through undiscovered cases and con- 

 tamination of wallows and swamp lands, 

 we have closed the heavily infected trail 

 between Taloma and Davao against use 

 by carabaos and cattle, and by munici- 

 pal ordinances have warned the people 

 not to pasture their susceptible animals 

 in certain sections. 



Lieutenant Dade, president and dis- 

 trict health officer of Davao, has con- 

 sented, at my request, to maintain 

 Constabulary patrols who will inspect 

 the cattle of the infected area twice 

 weekly to make sure of prompt detec- 

 tion if the disease reappears, and to 

 enforce the quarantine on this trail. 



To the best of my knowledge the total 

 loss sustained by the district of Davao 

 during this epizootic was 2,535 cattle 

 and 133 carabaos, a total of 2,668 animals. 

 Of these 372 died after our arrival on 

 December 14, 1910, and about 200 of the 

 372 died during the first week before I 

 was familiar with the conditions. Of 

 the 372 only 82 were slaughtered as 

 "exposed" or "infected." The term 

 "exposed" signifies that the animals 

 were considered as being in the incu- 

 bation stage of the disease. 



The success attending this work may 

 be attributed principally to three 

 factors :— 



[September, 1911. 



(a) Adequate laws and ordinances of 

 the province, which coupled with the 

 influence ot the officials, enabled us to 

 maintain the necessary rigid quarantine 

 and to accomplish the slaughter of in- 

 fected and exposed animals. 



(b) The satisfactory transportation 

 which permitted constant inspection of 

 suspects, thus rendering their slaughter 

 possible in the incubation period before 

 they became highly infectious. 



(c) The use of the Philippine Scouts, 

 who proved to be a most efficient arm 

 for effective quarantine service. 



The work of the Scouts cannot be 

 commended too highly, They followed 

 instructions implicitly and intelligently, 

 took a keen interest in the work and 

 refrained from abusing their authority. 

 I feel confident that the situation could 

 not have been handled successfully if 

 their services had not been available. 



I received the most cordial support and 

 - co-operation from all of the officials with 

 whom I came in contact, and I am 

 especially indebted to Lieutenant Dade 

 who, as municipal president, exerted an 

 invaluable influence. 



Efforts to trace the source from which 

 the infection entered the district were 

 unsuccessful. The original supposition 

 that it was carried down from Surigso 

 by deer or wild hogs as hosts, was not 

 supported by fact, as no infection was 

 discovered among wild animals. I tried 

 to secure deer for exposure to infection 

 that their susceptibility might be de- 

 monstrated conclusively, but did not 

 succeed in obtaining subjects until the 

 infection had subsided. I am of the 

 opinion that the infection was introduced 

 into the town of Davao through importa- 

 tion from Cebu, and that it smouldered 

 there several months before enough 

 animals had succumbed to provoke its 

 recognition as an epizootic. The first 

 case was observed by Lieutenant Dade 

 on October, 8, 1910, in the town of Da- 

 vao. Later it spread across the river 

 into the large herds in the adjacent 

 fields. 



While in Davao, the Director of 

 Agriculture directed that I investigate 

 the eastern coast of Mindanao as to the 

 existence of rinderpest, provided I could 

 make the trip within a reasonable period 

 of time. The conditions were such that I 

 considered it inadvisable to leave Davao 

 for this purpose. Lieut. H. fl. Smith 

 consented to perform this task, and bis 

 report shows that no disease exists 

 within the region. 



