When the Prey Fights Back
A hunter discovers an unusually aggressive colony of rabbits in Whatcom County.
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.
George Fiber had a peculiar experience near King (or Bald) Mountain yesterday. He was hunting pheasants with a dog and had killed two birds when the canine suddenly burst from a dense thicket and rushed towards George, howling and whining like a cowardly pup. Fiber investigated cautiously. Upon peering through the dense undergrowth, he beheld a perfect swarm of large and small rabbits. The center of the thicket presented the appearance of an excelsior factory, and evidently the little creatures had formed an alliance for mutual protection. They attacked the dog, and he was pretty badly used up before making his escape. Fiber killed seventeen of the larger rabbits before they showed any signs of fear.
“The center of the thicket presented the appearance of an excelsior factory.”
Though it reads like local color folklore, it highlights the intense wildlife density of early frontier Whatcom County. It remains a strange, evocative piece of 'frontier humor' that speaks to the uneasy relationship between humans, pets, and the wilderness.
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