Environment: The Wild Dogs of Little Egypt

An outbreak of rabies stirs fear in southern Illinois

On a quiet Friday evening a snarling 60-lb. dog—part shepherd, part collie—sat itself on the front porch of Pauline Maerker's house in the small (pop. 10,000), southern Illinois farm community of Murphysboro. When Maerker's daughter, Ruth Ann, 27, tried to walk out of the house, the animal's angry growl drove her back. When her son, Harold, 42, opened the door, the dog leaped at him. Only the screen saved him. Fifteen minutes later, the police came, tranquilized the dog, then took it away for testing. The animal, part of a...