Page 85 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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CHAPTER VII
THE GUERRILLAS OF DESTRUCTION
We have now to deal with The Guerrillas of Destruction.
In warfare, a guerrilla, or bushwhacker, is an armed man who recog- nizes none of the rules of civilized warfare, and very often has no com- mander. In France he is called a " franc-tireur, " or free-shooter. The guerrilla goes out to live on the country, to skulk, to war on the weak, and never attack save from ambush, or when the odds clearly are on his side. Hismilitarystatusis barelyoneremovefromthatofthespy.
The meat-shooters who harry the game and other wild life in order to use it as a staple food supply; the Italians, negroes and others who shoot song-birds as food ; the plume-hunters and the hide-and-tusk hunters all over the world are the guerrillas of the Army of Destruction. Let us consider some of these grand divisions in detail.
Here is an inexorable law of Nature, to which there are no exceptions
No wild species of bird, mammal, reptile or fish can withstand exploita tion for commercial purposes.
The men who pursue wild creatures for the money or other value there isinthem,nevergiveup. Theyworkatslaughterwhenothermenare enjoying life, or are asleep. If they are persistent, no species on which they fix the Evil Eye escapes extermination at their hands.
Does anyone question this statement? If so let him turn backward and look at the lists of dead and dying species.
The Division of Meat-Shooters contains all men who sordidly shoot for the frying-pan,—to save bacon and beef at the expense of the public,orforthemarkets. Thereareafewwildernessregionssoremote and so difficult of access that the transportation of meat into them is a matter of much difficulty and expense. There are a very few men in North America who are justified in "living off the country," for short periods. Thegenuineprospectorsalwayshavebeencountedinthisclass but all miners who are fully located, all lumbermen and railway-builders certainly are not in the prospector's class. They are abundantly able to maintain continuous lines of communication for the transit of beef and mutton.
Of all the meat-shooters, the market-gunners who prey on wild fowl and ground game birds for the big-city markets are the most deadly to wildlife. Enoughgeese,ducks,brant,quail,ruffedgrouse,prairiechick- ens, heath hens and wild pigeons have been butchered by gunners and nettersfor"themarket"tohavestockedthewholeworld. Nosection