Mange Outbreak Hits Spanaway
A dangerous animal disease threatens the local economy, as officials scramble to isolate horses and dogs to prevent further contagion.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Mange has broken out among the horses and dogs in the vicinity of Spanaway. Deputy Game Warden Thompson, acting under instructions from the county commissioners, went out to investigate the matter and found some of the animals in very bad condition. Mange, or Texas Itch, as it is sometimes called, is a very dangerous disease. When it breaks out in a neighborhood it spreads very rapidly among cattle and dogs unless the cases are isolated as soon as the first symptoms are discovered. The disease made its appearance in that district about two weeks ago and since then 201 valuable horses have died in direct result of the disease or have been killed to prevent its spread. The stables of the Portland Transfer Company have been quarantined on account of the disease. Cattle owners are making efforts to stamp it out, and a conference of veterinary surgeons was held today to devise some means of preventing its spread and disposing of animals found to be infected. It seems the disease first appeared in Washington on the Oregon border and has been gradually working north.
“Mange, or Texas Itch, as it is sometimes called, is a very dangerous disease.”
Agricultural and veterinary threats to local commerce in rural Pierce County were major news in 1904. The response—quarantines and regional coordination—mirrors the management of zoonotic diseases in the modern era.
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