Page 201 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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THE WICHITA NATIONAL BISON HERD Presented by the New York Zoological Society
shouldbepreserved. Abear-huntontheAlaskaPeninsula,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.
In Alaska there is some dissatisfaction over the protection accorded thebigbrownbears; butthoserulesarerightasJarastheygo! Agov-
ernor of Alaska once said to me
shouldbelefttothepeopleofAlaska. Itistheirgame;andtheywill preserve it all right!"
Theanswer? Notbyalongshot!
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—withtheintenttogetoutto-morrow! Itbelongstothe93,000,- 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. Itisverynecessarythattheregulationsforconservingthewild 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 nobody nor anything; he affords good sport; he objects to being exterminated, and wherever in North America he is threatened with extermination, he
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THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF BIG GAME 179
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' The preservation of the game of Alaska :'