A TRAGEDY OF THE WILDS.

Many of our winter visitors, seeing the great amount of snow on the ground, ask this perfectly natural question, "What do the animals find to eat?" In the case of our herbacious animals no doubt the matter of food is a real problem and this is particularly true of the door. Many of these animals journey from this protected area in the Park during the winter months because of the lack of sufficient food and choose what seems the lesser of two evils -- starvation or the guns of hunters.

Not so long ago a doe was found near the Nisqually Highway. Because of the proximity of the animal to the road it was first thought that some careless motorist had been practicing the "hit and run" theme on the wild life but on further observation it was discovered that its death, which resulted soon after it was found, was due to a combination of starvation and lice (not a pleasant sounding combination) The animal, apparently unable to find sufficient nourishment because of the heavy snow had fallen an easy prey to its numerous parasites which had taken advantage of its run down condition and sapped the last ounce of vitality.

Ranger Carl Tice, who is stationed at the Nisqually Entrance, has been placing hay out for the deer, but strange as it may seem, they snow no disposition to eat it. In spite of the rigorous conditions deer are fairly plentiful in the Park at the lower elevations. Later on they will be found throughout the entire timbered regions of the "Mountain". Now, as the snow melts they are wandering back over the Park boundary to the delight of our visitors who see them along the highway as they drive to Longmire Springs. Rarely a week goes by but several people excitedly report seeing a band of deer in the road.