BLOODHOUNDS AS TRACKERS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10265, 7 February 1899, Page 5

BLOODHOUNDS AS TRACKERS.

In connection with a suggestion, says the "Argus," that bloodhounds should be used for tracking criminals in Australia, the objection has been raised that the dogs would savage the quarry. This impression is entirely. <?rroneous, and, like many othe. wrong notions about bloodhounds,' probably originated in romances of slave life in the southern States of America. The facts are that, while some of the halfbred bloodhounds are savage, the pure bred dogs are not. In recent trials in England the dogs, having run down their man, stayed with him until their attendants came. A correspondent of the "Field," writing on the use of bloodhounds as trackers in Hawaii, says: "They said that the crowded streets appeared to make no difference to the hounds as long as the scent was fresh. There is a lot of dust about, or a mealy mud after the rain, and, of course, no pavements except in two or three of the streets. They say that when the hounds have come up with their man they never attempt to savage him, but if he "attempts to run off they 'down' him. The hounds are sent over from America ready trained." The "Stockkeeper," an English journal, understands that the committee "have received from a well-known bloodhound enthusiast a sporting challenge to match a couple of hounds for 10 guineas a-side against any other couple for a long-distance cold-trial course. The conditions contain provisions that the, course shall be some mi'es in length, and the trail several hours old."