Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1898 — WILD DOGS IN ARIZONA. [ARTICLE]

WILD DOGS IN ARIZONA.

Are More to Be Dreaded than the Panther or the Wolf. Ranging through that section of the United States where New Mexico and Arizona meet Xre bauds of wild animals whose bRc is more to be dreaded than that of the centipede, and is as fatal as the venom of the rattlesnake. They are known as the wild dogs of Arizona. Their origin Is not positively known, but they are"supposed to be a cross between a combination of Siberian bloodhound and bulldog stock, and the large timber wolf of Arizona. The first of these was taken Into New Mexico by cattle men resident there, about fifteen years ago. It was not very long after that when the first of the present species of animals was seen, and for a time their depredations were slight. Timber wolves were not overplenty in Arizona, and while occasionally a sheep, colt, horse or steer would be polled down by the brutes, there was not attempt to exterminate them, beyond taking a shot at one of the depredators whenever opportunity offered. In these days, however, their short barks and long, dismal howls or roars, something like a coyote howl Intensified many times, are becoming altogether too familiar. The noise they make Is fearsome indeed—far more so than the scream of the panther or the howl of the thoroughbred wolf. None have ever been captured, and no one wants to capture them, for their appearance is very largely as ugly as their bite. A fall grown animal of this sort will weigh about 100 pounds, and stands from two and a half to three feet high. They are heaviest about the shoulders and neck, have a round-shaped head and short, sharp ears. The general color of their coat Is gray, but long blackish hairs , come straggling through, giving a disagreeable appearance. Occasionally one of them will be of a different color still, and perhaps of fairly good apfciearance, but this Is supposed to result from the breeding In of domestic dogs, who have been known to desert the ranches and join one of these bands. The cattle, calves, horses and colts which meet death through these animals are by no means killed by them because food is needed, but die from the effects of the bite, which In every case produces symptoms exactly similar to strychnine poisoning. Benjamin Brown of Nutrloso, Ariz., has perhaps killed more of these animals than any other person, and he regards’ the task of hunting them as dangerous In the extreme. While they have never been known to wantonly attack a human being, they will defend themselves against one quick enough.