Rabid Coyote Terrorizes Local Orchard
A dangerous encounter near the Bleakley Fruit Company orchard ends with a farm dog put down after a violent skirmish.
George Chapple reports the killing of a large coyote Wednesday in the Bleakley Fruit Company orchard. The animal had all the appearances of rabies, and it required three charges of No. 6 shot from a 12 gauge gun to kill it. Before being killed it bit Mr. Bleakley’s pet dog in the head. The dog has been killed.
“The animal had all the appearances of rabies, and it required three charges of No. 6 shot from a 12 gauge gun to kill it.”
This incident highlights the harsh realities of early 20th-century frontier agriculture, where wildlife encounters carried genuine risks of disease and loss of livestock, a recurring anxiety in the rural development of the Columbia Basin.
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