Beauty and the Beast: Human-Animal Relations as Revealed in Real Photo Postcards, 1905–1935

7. Vermin

129 Adimension of human-animal relationships that we have not explored is hatred for particular species. At the beginning of the twentieth century most mammals were greeted with positive regard or at least considered benign creatures, but there were exceptions. Some animals were perceived as a threat, as enemies of the common good, despised and demonized as vermin. Large predators such as cougars and occasionally bears fitted that category, but particular hatred was reserved for coyotes and wolves. They were especially targeted for extermination.1 1. In the plains states, wolf, prairie wolf, and coyote were and still are often used interchangeably (W. Johnson 1922, 41). With some real photo postcards it is difficult to tell whether the animals in the picture are wolves or coyotes. Cards use wolf in the caption The goal of exterminating particular animals was not new to Americans. Widespread killing of coyotes and wolves in an attempt at extermination was a common practice first in colonial New England (Coleman 2004), then in the Midwest (Lopez 1978), and, during the postcard era, in the Great Plains states and beyond (McIntyre 1993). At first glance, the picture in illustration 7.1 appears to be rural youngsters with canine pets. Look again. Those animals are dead coyotes. A few of the children are smiling, while others are more somber, which is where the animals appear to be coyotes. Using wolf to label an animal that is actually a coyote raised the kill’s significance and the hunter’s status. Even given the difficulties, we try to maintain the distinction between wolves and coyotes in this chapter. 7 Vermin 7.1. Children with dead coyotes, Alexandria, Nebraska, 1913. Joel Wayne, Pop’s Postcards Coll. 130   |   Beauty and the Beast probably more a function of the chill in the air than the animal corpses at their feet. The picture was taken by a local postcard photographer in Nebraska and sold to citizens in the area as a souvenir of an event they celebrated , a coyote kill, or “roundup,” as locals called it. Wolf Hunts Real photo postcards document how wolves were trapped and hunted by individuals for bounty. Illustration 7.2 depicts a wolf caught in a steel leg-hold trap. Animals caught in these traps suffered lacerations, joint dislocation, broken bones, or starvation, and sometimes chewed off the clamped leg to free themselves. To save ammunition, hunters often clubbed trapped wolves to death. Local government-sponsored wolf bounty killing started in colonial times. In the mid-1800s many western states introduced the practice for wolves, mountain lions, and other carnivores (Sweet 2002). After 1890 state legislators institutionalized ranchers’ killing of wolves by ranking wolves at the top of the list of animals to be destroyed. They believed wolves preyed on game and ranch stock and were the most destructive canines (Zmyj 1996). By the beginning of the twentieth century the federal government joined the states in declaring warfare upon predatory animals. The U.S. Forest Service, for example, killed wolves until the job was taken over by the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey (Robinson 2005). The most dramatic images of wolf killing were produced at events where citizens of rural communities teamed up for community hunts. The goal of these forays was specicide—the intentional extermination of a species by killing as many as possible—in this case the wolf. Although the exact procedure varied from area to area, the general approach was for people to meet at a location where wolves roamed. Captains would organize the day. The area covered was often large, miles in diameter. One of the largest wolf hunts on record took place in Osborne County, Kansas, in 1908, where more than eight hundred people participated and covered more than forty-eight square miles (F. Wood and Daymond 1988). The crowd of hunters would disperse to form a huge circle. At the designated time they would move toward the middle, rustling the brush, shouting, and making other loud noises as they drove the confused wolves toward the center. There, wild canines would be clubbed, shot, and stabbed. Although men dominated, women and children were part of the congregation , too. Some wolf roundups used horses and then cars and trucks later in the century. Illustration 7.3 shows a line of humans supported by horse-drawn carriages and cars joining a wolf drive in Holstein, Nebraska, in 1922. In the next image we see the result 7.2. Trapped wolf, ca. 1917. Arluke Coll. [3...