WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE ANIMALS AND BIRDS

Nature has done more for our land than for almost any other. She has given it vast forests, fertile soil, favorable climate, enormous water power, many minerals, and a wonderful variety of animal life.

During all the centuries that the Indians lived here before the coming of white men, wild game furnished them their chief food, but in spite of this, the amount of game was not decreased. When our forefathers landed upon this continent, it fairly swarmed with animals and birds. With the clearing away of the forests and the settling of the prairies men could not help depriving many wild creatures of both their shelter and their food, but this was not the chief cause for their rapid decrease in numbers. Hunters followed them persistently into the wilder hills and mountains, and many, not needed for food, were killed for their furs.

Now we may travel for days through the remote and still unsettled parts of our country and see very little life of any kind except birds and the smaller animals, such as squirrels. Occasionally we may start up a deer that flees away from us like the wind. Still more rarely we come upon a bear and are fortunate if we get even the merest sight of him before he is gone.

The fear of man has spread among all the wild creatures. There is good reason for this fear, because man has completely exterminated some species and so reduced the numbers of others that careful protection will be needed to save them. Travelers tell us that in those lands where man rarely goes the wild creatures have little fear of him.

The story of the slaughter of the buffalo is known to us all. Once this noble animal roamed from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains. Countless thousands were killed merely for their hides, and other thousands were killed for sport. Finally, when they were almost gone, people awoke to the importance of saving them. Several small herds, not more than a few hundred in number, that had escaped the hunters were placed under protection and now they are slowly increasing.

The grizzly, king of bears, was once abundant in parts of the Rocky Mountains and upon the Pacific slope, but now he is found only in the Yellowstone Park region. The man who killed the last specimen in California is proud of his great achievement.

Of all the elk which once spread over the western part of our country, only a few remain outside of the Yellowstone region. A protected herd exists in the San Joaquin Valley, California, and another small herd roams through the wilder parts of the northern Coast Ranges. The antelope, so common on the plains only a few years ago, are all gone except for small, scattered herds in the more remote parts of the West.

Of the many fur-bearing animals which once inhabited the Northwest, beavers were the most widespread and abundant. Their pelts were so valuable that they were used as money. For many years the trapping of these little animals was an important industry, until at last they were practically exterminated in every stream throughout the western half of the country. A few beaver are known to remain in the Yellowstone Park, where they are of course carefully protected. In Oregon a few escaped and have been carefully protected for some years. In certain places they are now quite abundant. In parts of New England and Canada they are now increasing under the protection of the game laws.

The sea otter, now extremely rare, is so highly valued for its fur that it soon may become extinct, although completely protected by law.

The passenger pigeon, whose flights almost covered the sky at times not more than forty years ago, and whose numbers seemed so great that no one believed it possible of extermination, is now gone forever. The extinction of these birds was due chiefly to their being slaughtered at their roosting places.

The California condor, one of the largest of birds, is almost extinct. The prairie chicken has disappeared from the prairies and plains. Certain species of grouse, and especially the sage grouse, mountain quail, and others, which inhabit sparsely settled regions, are thought to be still holding their ground, but should be more carefully protected. The valley quail is, however, much reduced in numbers; while ducks, geese, and smaller shore birds are decreasing with each succeeding year.

Even in the jungles of far-away Africa, where we would think the animals are exposed to little danger of extinction, some of them, such as the elephant, are in urgent need of protection. In the far North the great polar bear will not long survive unless rigidly protected.

What terrible scourge has so suddenly come upon the birds and animals that once adorned our country? How is it that in the short space of fifty years many of them have almost disappeared from their ancient haunts? We feel like hiding our faces in shame, for it is the same man scourge that for many hundreds of years has been destroying the forests, the animals, and the birds of many other countries.

The helplessness of all the wild creatures before man’s destructive weapons should arouse our sympathy, if nothing else does. Leaving out of account a few predatory animals that destroy large numbers of other animals, we should most earnestly try to protect those that remain.

The beauty of the birds, their sweet music, the companionship which they afford, and, last but not least, their great value to the farmer and fruit grower, should arouse our earnest efforts in their behalf.

In our country alone an army of five million men and boys go out to hunt wild creatures every year. The animals are so defenseless against man’s weapons that it is not a fair fight, in which the quicker or sharper escape, but a slaughter.

If these hunters were savages armed only with bows and arrows, then the wild creatures would have a chance for their lives. Besides, savages do not kill for sport, nor do they purposely destroy Nature’s most valuable gifts to them.

The forest that has been cut down will grow again. The soil that has been made poor will, if let alone, sometime become fertile again. But those species of birds, animals, and fish which we have completely destroyed will never be restored to us.