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Show QUEER LAMB FOR LIBERTY PARK Half Domestic and Half Wild. Dam Was a Tame Ewa, Its Sire a Mountain Ram. Will Be Presented to the City of Salt Lake by J. D. Wood Was Bred by Accident. What Is probably tho rarest specimen In the animal kingdom a cross between a mountain sheep and a domestic sheep arrived yesterday from J. D. Wood's Idaho ranch, to bo added to tho city s collection of animals nt Liberty park. Tho mountain sheep themselves are becoming be-coming so scarce that tho National Gov ernment Is taking overy precaution to I preserve the few now at largo In the West, and a cross of this kind wns probably prob-ably never recorded until within the last year. An Unlucky Number. It was only last spring that thirteen of tho lambs of half-wild parentage-appeared In a flock of the Wood Live Stock company, which was on winter range near Melrose, Mont The countrv about Melrose Is very wild and very mountainous, mountain-ous, and a few mountain sheep were known to be in thnt section. One of the mountain rams wns often seen with tho domestic animals, and as he was never molested he became comparatively tamo. Nevertheless, tho appearance of the half-wild lambs with tho tame owes cro-ated cro-ated not a little consternation among tho flock tenders. Nothing of tho kind had ever before bcen heard of. When Mr Wood learned about It he directed that precautions bo taken to preserve the rare specimens. It was not considered well to confine them when so young, however, and ln splto of tho precautions that were taken, all but one disappeared. From tho fact that they appeared rugged ami healthy It Is not believed that they died, but whether they were stolen or wandered wan-dered away with their mountain relatives rela-tives Is not known. Breed M"ot an Improvement. Mr. Wood doubts whether anything could bo gained In broed by the unusual cress; but tho specimens obtained would of courso bo very valuable on account of their rarity. Mr. Wood had applications from tho Agricultural department ln Washington and from persons In New York for pairs of the half -wild sheep. Ho had Intended sending a pair to Washington, Wash-ington, but was prevented doing so by the- sudden disappearances, which occurred oc-curred before tho animals were old enough to be shipped so great a distance. When only the one was left Mr. Wood decided that It should bo given to this city. It will assuredly be a great attraction at-traction for Liberty park if it lives. Take After Their Dad. Tho half-wild lambs all appeared to partake more of tho nature of their mountain sire than of their domestic dams. When they wero only a few weeks old they could easily scale any ordinary fence, and ln their plays they would always al-ways leap over their dams ln preference to going around thorn. |