Hounds v. Big Game

More tribulation struck the Matto Grosso Expedition (TIME, June 1 et ante) on the Brazilian-Bolivian border last week. John S. Clarke Jr.. one of the backers and leaders, shot a jaguar. In the excitement another member of the party shot

John S. Clarke Jr. in the shoulder. Alex ander Siemel, jaguar spearer and expedition field director, got the injured man to their main camp on John Gordon Ram say's huge Descalvados ranch (it is as big as Connecticut), sent him by airplane to Corumba for hospital mending.

Mr. Clarke decided to return to the U. S. at once. Two other financiers of the expedition left with him -- Eldridge R. Fenimore Johnson and Samuel Hoopes. Already back in the U. S. are David Newell, organizer of the hound pack which the expedition has been using to trail and bay big South American game, and his younger brother John Newell, who made records of jungle sounds before he took ill last summer.

Left behind on the ranch, but to leave there in November or December with their collection of animals caged for U. S. zoos, were Alexander Siemel, chief animal man, who has recovered from an alligator bite (TIME, April 13) ; Vladimir ("Vovo") Perfilieff, artist and general director; Floyd Crosby, first camera man, now busi ness manager, and his wife (only woman with the party) ; James T. Rehn, zoologist ; Vincent Petrullo. ethnologist ; Arthur Rossi, cameraman; Ainslee Davis, sound engineer; Uncle George Rawls. famed Florida cracker guide: and the dogs. The dogs, typical U. S. hunters, have contributed largely to the expedition's game catch. Most are foxhounds. Others are foxhound-bloodhound crosses. Two are fox terriers. Value of the hounds against jungle beasts was moot when the expedition left the U. S. last winter. The late Paul Rainey had used a pack successfully in Africa many years ago. But Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt when they went to mid-Asia for Ovis poli found hounds useless on cold desert plateaus. On the other hand David Newell, Floridan organizer of the Matto Grosso pack, had confidence in U. S. dogs' abilities.

The dogs have enabled the killing or capture alive of jaguars, pumas, ocelots, tapirs, giant armadillas, deer, anacondas, and a very rare Brazilian red wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus). Except for Buck and Bill whom alligators killed, the dogs escaped serious mauling by game. Old Jake, 6, their leader, had his right ear clawed by a jaguar. It had to be amputated. Old Jake was responsible for 17 jaguars, six pumas, twelve ocelots. Prior to this Matto Grosso hunt, when he lived in Arizona, he had to his credit 60 pumas. 26 black bears, two grizzlies, bobcats galore. If Old Jake comes out of Brazil alive, Mr. Newell plans to take him next autumn to Siberia to try for long-haired tigers.

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