Mount Vernon History for Oct. 24, 1808: County offers $1.50 per dead wolf

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Webp wolf

In 1808, Knox County government had a bounty for wolves. | Born-Hiker, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Meeting in Mount Vernon, the Knox County Board of Commissioners approves an order that the county treasurer will pay $1.50 to anyone who kills a grown wolf. That's about $37 in 2023 dollars.

Jesse Morgan and Jonathan Morgan, the namesakes of Morgan Township, each collected three dollars-- $111-- for killing two of them.

 By 1809, payments for dead wolves became a drain on the Knox County treasury, according to A History of Knox County, from 1770-1862.

Most counties in the early 1800's also placed bounties on squirrels and mountain lions, according to the Ohio State Department of Wildlife.

Wolves were a problem for farmers in Knox Couny, preying upon sheep, pigs and calves, thus the bounty placed on them. By 1842, there were no wolves left in Ohio. They had been hunted to local extinction.

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