Page 75 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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CHAPTER VI
THE REGULAR ARMY OF DESTRUCTION
In order to cure any disease, the surgeon must make of it a correct diagnosis. Itisuselesstotrytoprescriberemedieswithoutathorough understanding of the trouble.
That the best and most interesting wild life of America is disappearing at a rapid rate, we all know only too well. That proposition is entirely beyondthedomainofargument. Thefactthataspeciesoragroupof species has made a little gain here and there, or is stationary, does not sensiblydiminishtheforceofthedescendingblow. Thewild-lifesitu- ationisfullofsurprises. Forexample,in1902Iwasastoundedbythe extent to which bird life had decreased over the 130 miles between Miles City, Montana, and the Missouri River since 1886; for there was no rea- sontoexpectanythingofthekind. Eventhejackrabbitsandcoyotes had almost totally disappeared.
The duties of the present hour, that fairly thrust themselves into our faces and will not be put aside, are these:
First, —To save valuable species from extermination
Second,—To preserve a satisfactory representation of our once rich fauna, to hand down to Posterity.
Third,—To protect the farmer and fruit grower from the enormous losses that the destruction of our insectivorous and rodent-eating birds is now inflicting upon both the producer and consumer.
Fourth,—To protect our forests, by protecting the birds that keep down the myriads of insects that are destructive to trees and shrubs.
Fifth,—To preserve to the future sportsmen of America enough game and fish that they may have at least a taste of the legitimate pursuit of game in the open that has made life so interesting to the sportsmen of to-day.
For any civilized nation to exterminate valuable and interesting spe- ciesofwildmammals,birdsorfishesismorethanadisgrace. Itisacrime We have no right, legal, moral or commercial, to exterminate any valu- able or interesting species; because none of them belong to us, to exter- minate or not, as we please.
For the people of any civilized nation to permit the slaughter of the wild birds that protect its crops, its fruits and its forests from the insect hordes, is worse than folly. It is sheer orneryness and idiocy. People who are either so lazy or asinine a^ to permit the slaughter of their best