54 BULLETIN 1089 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
BROKEN BONES. 
Broken bones are of common occurrence at round-ups, especially 
at marking time. Rough handling is responsible for most of these 
breakages. Native herders particularly should be cautioned against 
injuring the animals that are being marked. A heavy man can 
easily crush in two or three ribs when he is throwing a fawn on the 
ground, and legs at times have been heard to snap. Xeedless to say. 
severely injured animals should be killed as speedily as possible. 
LONG HOOF. 
Without entering into a discussion on the probable causes of long 
hoofs (PI. XXI, Fig. 2), which are still under investigation, it seems 
advisable to urge reindeer owners to pay more attention to this over- 
growth and to trim and pare the long hoofs so that the deer will be 
able to walk squarely on their feet. It has been noticed that many 
cases of lameness in the herds are attributed to this condition; the 
long hoofs have been left untrimmed. causing the animals to walk 
on their heels, and ending in the formation of sores. These sores 
resemble those seen in foot rot. In an affected herd timely attention 
to the feet would certainly cut down the losses. 
FOOT ROT. 
All foot troubles are serious when they occur in grazing animals; 
for as soon as the animal has difficulty in walking it can not feed 
properly and soon becomes thin and worthless. If the lameness is 
severe and likely to become worse it is the best policy to destroy the 
animal. The benefit in this case is twofold ; first, if the animal is in 
good flesh the meat can be used and, secondly, the risk of passing on 
the disease is eliminated. Foot rot and dermatitis are among the 
most troublesome of reindeer diseases. The percentage of lame 
animals in a herd may be considerable. The treatment of advanced 
cases is hopeless under present conditions where the sores can not be 
attended to every day. 
The most likely method of stopping the spread of the disease would 
be as follows : On the appearance of the first few cases, segregate or 
kill the sick animals and collect the healthy ones and drive them 
through a shallow trough containing a 5 per cent solution of one of 
the recognized sheep dips. The dipping should be repeated every 
second or third day. At least one herd owner in Alaska has made 
preparation to follow out this plan in its entirety. The Lapps have 
known, probably for centuries, that one way of getting rid of the 
disease is to drive their herds to a new ground. This is a practical 
method, as the sick and lame animals were thus left behind and 
consequently contagion in the herd diminished. 
