Our Vanishing Wild Life Part 32

THE MOOSE.--In the United States the moose is found in five states,--Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. There are 550 in the Yellowstone Park. In Maine and Minnesota only may moose be hunted and killed. In the season of 1909, 184 moose were killed in Maine,--a large number, considering the small moose population of that state. In northern Minnesota, we now possess a great national moose preserve of 909,743 acres; and in 1908 Mr. Fullerton, after a personal inspection in which he saw 189 moose in nine days, estimated the total moose population of the present day at 10,000 head. This is a moose preserve worth while.

Outside of protected areas, the moose is the animal that is most easily exterminated. Its trail is easily followed, and its habits are thoroughly known, down to three decimal places. As a hunter's reward it is Great. Strange to say, New Brunswick has found that the moose is an animal that it is possible, and even easy, to protect. The death of a moose is an event that is not easily concealed! Wherever it is thoroughly understood that the moose law will be enforced, the would-be poacher pauses to consider the net results to him of a jail sentence.

In New Brunswick we have seen two strange things happen, during our own times. We have seen the moose migrate into, and permanently occupy, an extensive area that previously was dest.i.tute of that species. At the same time, we have seen a reasonable number of bull moose killed by sportsmen without disturbing in the least the general equanimity of the general moose population! And at this moment, the moose population of New Brunswick is almost incredible. Every moose hunter who goes there sees from 20 to 40 moose, and two of my friends last year saw, "in round numbers, about 100!" Up to date the size of adult antlers seem to be maintaining a high standard.

In summer, the photographing of moose in the rivers, lakes and ponds of Maine and New Brunswick amounts to an industry. I am uneasy about the constant picking off of the largest and best breeding bulls of the Mirimachi country, lest it finally reduce the size and antlers of the moose of that region; but only the future can tell us just how that prospect stands to-day.

In Alaska, our ever thoughtful and forehanded Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture has by legal proclamation at one stroke converted the whole of the Kenai Peninsula into a magnificent moose preserve. This will save _Alces gigas_, the giant moose of Alaska, from extermination; and New Brunswick and the Minnesota preserve will save _Alces america.n.u.s_. But in the northwest, we can positively depend upon it that eventually, wherever the moose may legally be hunted and killed by any Tom, d.i.c.k or Harry who can afford a twenty-dollar rifle and a license, the moose surely will disappear.

The moose laws of Alaska are strict--toward sportsmen, only! The miners, "prospectors" and Indians may kill as many as they please, "for food purposes." This opens the door to a great amount of unfair slaughter.

Any coffee-cooler can put a pan and pick into his hunting outfit, go out after moose, and call himself a "prospector."

I grant that the _real_ prospector, who is looking for ores and minerals with an intelligent eye, and knows what he is doing, should have special privileges on game, to keep him from starving. The settled miner, however, is in a different cla.s.s. No miner should ask the privilege of living on wild game, any more than should the farmer, the steamboat man, the railway laborer, or the soldier in an army post. The Indian should have no game advantages whatever over a white man. He does not own the game of a region, any more than he owns its minerals or its water-power.

He should obey the general game laws, just the same as white men. In Africa, as far as possible, the white population wisely prohibits the natives from owning or using firearms, and a good idea it is, too. I am glad there is one continent on which the "I'm-just-as-good-as-you-are"

nightmare does not curse the whole land.

THE MUSK-OX.--Now that the north pole has been safely discovered, and the south pole has become the storm-center of polar exploration, the harried musk-ox herds of the farthest north are having a rest. I think that most American sportsmen have learned that as a sporting proposition there is about as much fun and glory in harrying a musk-ox herd with dogs, and picking off the members of it at "parade rest," as there is in shooting range cattle in a round-up. The habits of the animal positively eliminate the real essence of sport,--difficulty and danger. When a musk-ox band is chased by dogs, or by wolves, the full-grown members of it, bulls and cows alike, instantly form a close circle around the calves, facing outward shoulder to shoulder, and stand at bay. Without the aid of a gunner and a rifle, such a formation is invincible! Mr.

Paul Rainey's moving pictures tell a wonderful story of animal intelligence, bravery and devotion to the parental instinct.

For some reason, the musk-ox herds do not seem to have perceptibly increased since man first encountered them. The number alive to-day appears to be no greater than it was fifty years ago; and this leads to the conclusion that the present delicate balance could easily be disturbed the wrong way. Fortunately, it seems reasonably certain that the Indians of the Canadian Barren Grounds, the Eskimo of the far north, and the stray explorers all live outside the haunts of the species, and come in touch only with the edge of the musk-ox population as a whole.

This leads us to hope and believe that, through the difficulties involved in reaching them, the main bodies of musk-ox of both species are safe from extermination.

At the same time, the time has come for Canada, the United States and Denmark to join in formulating a stiff law for the prevention of wholesale slaughter of musk-ox for sport. It should be rendered impossible for another sportsman to kill twenty-three head in one day, as once occurred. Give the sportsman a bag of three bulls, and no more.

To this, no true sportsman will object, and the objections of game-hogs only serve to confirm the justice of the thing they oppose.

THE GRIZZLY BEAR.--To many persons it may seem strange that anyone should feel disposed to accord protection to such fierce predatory animals as grizzly bears, lions and tigers. But the spirit of fair play springs eternal in some human b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The sportsmen of the world do not stick at using long-range, high-power repeating rifles on big game, but they draw the line this side of traps, poisons and extermination. The sportsmen of India once thought,--for about a year and a day,--that it was permissible to kill troublesome and expensive tigers by poison. Mr.

G.P. Sanderson tried it, and when his strychnine operations promptly developed three bloated and disgusting tiger carca.s.ses, even his native followers revolted at the principle. That was the alpha and omega of Sanderson's poisoning activities.

I am quite sure that if the extermination of the tiger from the whole of India were possible, and the to-be or not-to-be were put to a vote of the sportsmen of India, the answer would be a thundering _"No!"_ Says Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton in his "Animal Life in Africa:" "It is impossible to contemplate the use against the lion of any other weapon than the rifle."

The real sportsmen and naturalists of America are decidedly opposed to the extermination of the grizzly bear. They feel that the wilds of North America are wide enough for the accommodation of many grizzlies, without crowding the proletariat. A Rocky Mountain without a grizzly upon it, or at least a bear of some kind, is only half a mountain,--commonplace and tame. Put one two-year-old grizzly cub upon it, and presto! every cubic yard of its local atmosphere reeks with romantic uncertainty and fearsome thrills.

A few persons have done considerable talking and writing about the damage to stock inflicted by bears, but I think there is little justification for such charges. Certainly, there is not one-tenth enough real damage done by bears to justify their extermination. At the present time, we hear that the farmers (!) of Kadiak Island, Alaska, are being seriously hara.s.sed and damaged by the big Kadiak bear,--an animal so rare and shy that it is very difficult for a sportsman to kill one! I think the charges against the bears,--if the Kadiak Islanders ever really have made any,--need to be proven, by the production of real evidence.

In the United States, outside of our game preserves, I know of not one locality in which grizzly bears are sufficiently numerous to justify a sportsman in going out to hunt them. The California grizzly, once represented by "Monarch" in Golden Gate Park, is almost, if not wholly, extinct. In Montana, outside of Glacier Park it is useless to apply for wild grizzlies. In the Bitter Root Mountains and Clearwater Mountains of Idaho, there are grizzlies, but they hide so effectually under the snow-bent willows on the "slides" that it is almost impossible to get a shot. Northwestern Wyoming still contains a few grizzlies, but there are so many square miles of mountains around each animal it is now almost useless to go hunting for them. British Columbia, western Alberta and the coast mountains at least as far as Skaguay, and Yukon Territory generally, all contain grizzlies, and the sportsman who goes out for sheep, caribou and moose is reasonably certain to see half a dozen bears and kill at least one or two. In those countries, the grizzly species will hold forth long after all killable grizzlies have vanished from the United States.

I think that it is now time for California, Montana, Was.h.i.+ngton, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming to give grizzly bears protection of some sort.

Possibly the situation in those states calls for a five-year close season. Even British Columbia should now place a bag limit on this species. This has seemed clear to me ever since two of my friends killed (in the spring of 1912) _six_ grizzlies in one week! But Provincial Game Warden A. Bryan Williams says that at present it would be impossible to impose a bag limit of one per year on the grizzlies of British Columbia; and Mr. Williams is a sincere game-protector.

THE BROWN BEARS OF ALASKA.--These magnificent monsters present a perplexing problem, which I am inclined to believe can be satisfactorily solved by the Biological Survey only in short periods, say of three or four years each. Naturally, the skin hunters of Alaska ardently desire the skins of those bears, for the money they represent. That side of the bear problem does not in the least appeal to the ninety odd millions of people who live this side of Alaska. The skins of the Alaskan brown bears have little value save as curiosities, nailed upon the wall, where they can not be stepped upon and injured. The _hunting_ of those bears, however, is a business for men; and it is partly for that reason they should be preserved. A bear-hunt on the Alaska Peninsula, Admiralty or Montagu Islands, is an event of a lifetime, and with a bag limit of _one_ brown bear, the species would be quite safe from extermination.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WICHITA NATIONAL BISON HERD Presented by the New York Zoological Society]

In Alaska there is some dissatisfaction over the protection accorded the big brown bears; but those rules are right _as far as they go_! A governor of Alaska once said to me: "The preservation of the game of Alaska should be left to the _people_ of Alaska. It is their game; and they will preserve it all right!"

The answer? _Not by a long shot_!

Only three things were wrong with the ex-governor's view:

1.--The game of Alaska does _not_ belong to the people who live in Alaska--with the intent to get out to-morrow! It belongs to the 93,000,000 people of the Nation.

2.--The preservation of the Alaskan fauna on the public domain should not be left unreservedly to the people of Alaska, because

3.--As sure as shooting, they will _not_ preserve it!

Congress is right in appropriating $15,000 for game protection in Alaska. It is very necessary that the regulations for conserving the wild life should be fixed by the Secretary of Agriculture, with the advice of the Biological Survey.

THE BLACK BEAR is an interesting citizen. He harms n.o.body nor anything; he affords good sport; he objects to being exterminated, and wherever in North America he is threatened with extermination, he should at once be given protection! A black bear _in the wilds_ is harmless. In captivity, posed as a household "pet," he is decidedly dangerous, and had best be given the middle of the road. In big forests he is a grand stayer, and will not be exterminated from the fauna of the United States until Was.h.i.+ngton is wrecked by anarchists.

THE AMERICAN BISON.--I regard the American bison species as now reasonably secure against extermination. This is due to the fact that it breeds persistently and successfully in captivity, and to the great efforts that have been put forth by the United States Government, the Canadian Government, the American Bison Society, the New York Zoological Society, and several private individuals.

The species reached its lowest ebb in 1889, when there were only 256 head in captivity and 835 running wild. The increase has been as follows:

1888--W.T. Hornaday's census 1,300 1902--S.P. Langley's census 1,394 1905--Frank Baker's census 1,697 1908--W.T. Hornaday's census 2,047 1910--W.P. Wharton's census (in North America) 2,108 1912--W.P. Wharton's census (in North America) 2,907

To-day, nearly one-half of the living bison are in very large governmental parks, perpetually established and breeding rapidly, as follows:

IN THE UNITED STATES.

Yellowstone Park fenced herd, founded by Congress 125 Montana National Bison Range, founded by The American Bison Society 69 Wichita Bison Range, founded by The New York Zoological Society 39 Wind Cave Bison Range, S. Dakota, founded by Am. Bison Society To be stocked Niobrara (Neb.) National Bison Range, now in process of creation To be stocked

IN CANADA.

Buffalo Park, Wainwright, Alberta 1,052 Elk Island Park, Alberta 53 Rocky Mountains Park, Banff, Alberta 27

Total National and Provincial Preserves 1,365

Of wild bison there are only three groups: 49 head in the Yellowstone National Park, about 75 Pablo "outlaws" around the Montana Bison Range, and between 300 and 400 head in northern Athabasca, southwest of Fort Resolution, existing in small and widely scattered bands.

The efforts of man to atone for the great bison slaughter by preserving the species from extinction have been crowned with success. Two governments and two thousand individuals have shared this task,--solely for sentimental reasons. In these facts we find reason to hope and believe that other efforts now being made to save other species from annihilation will be equally successful.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AFRICAN GAME

Thanks to the diligence with which sportsmen and field naturalists have recorded their observations in the haunts of big game, it is not at all difficult to forecast the immediate future of the big game of the world.

We may safely a.s.sume that all lands well suited to agriculture, mining and grazing will become populated by rifle-bearing men, with the usual result to the wild mammals and birds. At the same time, the game of the open mountains everywhere is thinly distributed and easily exterminated.

On the other hand, the unconquerable forest jungles of certain portions of the tropics will hold their own, and shelter their four-footed inhabitants for centuries to come.

On the open mountains of the world and on the grazing lands most big game is now being killed much faster than it breeds. This is due to the attacks of five times too many hunters, open seasons that are too long, and bag limits that are far too liberal. As an example, consider Africa Viewed in any way it may be taken, the bag limit in British East Africa is appallingly high. Notice this astounding array of wild creatures that _each hunter_ may kill under a license costing _only $250!_

2 Buffalo 2 Rhinoceros 2 Hippopotamus 1 Eland 2 Grevy Zebra 20 Common Zebra 2 Fringe-eared Oryx 4 Beisa Antelope 4 Waterbuck 1 Sable Antelope 1 Roan Antelope 1 Greater Kudu 4 Lesser Kudu 10 Topi 20 c.o.ke Hartebeest 2 Neumann Hartebeest 4 Jackson Hartebeest 6 Hunter's Antelope 4 Thomas Kob 2 Bongo 4 Pallah 2 Sitatunga 3 Gnu 12 Grant Gazelle 4 Waller's Gazelle 10 Harvey's Duiker 10 Isaac's Duiker 10 Blue Duiker 10 Kirk's Dik-dik 10 Guenther's Dik-dik 10 Hinde's Dik-dik 10 Cavendish Dik-dik 10 Abyssinian Oribi 10 Haggard's Oribi 10 Kenya Oribi 10 Suni 10 Klipspringer 10 Ward's Reedbuck 10 Chanler's Reedbuck 10 Thompson Gazelle 10 Peters Gazelle 10 Soemmerring Gazelle 10 Bushbuck 10 Haywood Bushbuck

The grand total is a possible 300 large hoofed and horned animals representing _44 species_! Add to this all the lions, leopards, cheetahs, cape hunting dogs and hyaenas that the hunter can kill, and it will be enough to stock a zoological garden!