REINDEER IN ALASKA. 53 
purposes. An improvement which large reindeer owners might 
profitably undertake would be to provide paddocks or stabling for 
injured and sick animals. The present policy is to raise the standard 
of the Alaska herds; therefore, no sickly or undersized animals 
should be kept, and this applies especially to breeding stock. 
ACCIDENTS. 
Accidents are of common occurrence when herds are being handled 
in the corrals (PL XXI, Fig. 1). A suggestion which reindeer 
owners could well follow would be to isolate all the injury cases as 
soon as they occur to prevent further damage to them from trampling 
by the other animals. If there is no time to attend to injured rein- 
deer while handling of the herd is in progress, they should be left by 
themselves in some inclosure provided for the purpose until such 
time as they may be properly looked after. In many cases it will be 
found advisable to slaughter and dress the most seriously injured 
animals. In other cases, where treatment seems likely to help, the 
animal might be treated and then turned out with the herd or fed 
by hand for a few days. Following this simple suggestion would in 
many cases be found profitable to reindeer owners. Heretofore, 
diseased or injured animals have been turned out on the range, with- 
out any attention, to live or die, as the case may be. 
BROKEN HORNS. 
Fawns frequently break their horns when being roped in the corral, 
especially when they are in the velvet at marking time. These acci- 
dents may be eliminated to a great extent by avoidance of over- 
crowding in the corral and by careful handling. Small wire in- 
cisures are dangerous for fawns when the strands of wire are so far 
apart that their horns get caught. The older animals also suffer in 
this regard, and while they may not break their horns, they may be 
injured otherwise. When a fawn breaks its horn the pedunculated 
portion of attachment to the skull usually breaks with it. The broken 
horn must be removed, together with the piece of skull. Care must 
be taken not to leave a pocket of skin over the exposed part of the 
brain where pus will find a lodgment. The skin should be trimmed 
in such a way that it will just cover the opening. 
Many fawns die as the result of broken horns. At one round-up 
31 fawns suffered the loss of one or both horns. In this case they 
were killed and dressed, since the owners had found by experience 
that animals usually die as a result of such injury. In another case, 
of a total of 550 fawns marked, 73 lost one or both horns. When the 
horns break without damaging the skull there is an excellent chance 
for recovery, but if the brain is exposed, unless proper surgical 
methods are adopted, recovery is doubtful. 
