FUR-BEARING ANIMALS AND THEIR POSSIBLE EXTINCTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5731, 28 October 1905, Page 16

FUR-BEARING ANIMALS AND THEIR POSSIBLE EXTINCTION.

(By Charles Maurice Muhlberg, in “Nature Notes. 5 )

Speaking generally, the number of nearly all tlio largo animals usually iiuntod as game by sportsmen, such as buffalo, musk ox, War, lion, otter, and beaver, appeal's to bo decreasing, Ihe lynx and the leopard may perhaps bo exceptions.

For the protection of the buffalo, tho Government of the United States lias made special laws, and Canada has done the same for the heaver. In tlio Province of Ontario tho killing of the hatter is prohibited altogether. Fur seals havo boon diminishing in number for the last twenty years. For the .protection of those, ten yearn ago, the United States enacted laws, still in force to-day, which entirely prohibit tlio entry into United States territory of any skins of seals killed at sea, in the Behring Sea or North Pacific. Into tho United States there may, therefore, be imported only tho skins of seals killed on land on the Prybilow Inlands, the Lobos Island, tlio Copper or Commander Islands, and tho few that arc obtained off Capo Horn and Australia. A further diminution can only bo averted by an international agreement among the nations concerned, and although these are many—Russia, tlio XLiitcd States, England, Japan, and others—l still hope that one day this agreement will come about.

Tho Chinchilla has bad tho attention of tho South American Government turned to it of late. Tlio killing of the opossum was prohibited by Tasmania a few years ago. Tho sea otter, tho most beautiful representative of its tribe, unfortunately has not shared tho protection of tho fur seal. The hunting of this animal so highly prized for the groat value of ite skin, lias been carried on indiscriminately, with the result that in 1904 less , than 400 skins readied the London market. whereas only seven years ago (1897) over 1,200 were imported, and much larger quantities in the year before that. In the case of lions the decrease is very marked indeed. Whereas in former yeans a number of fine adult lion’s skins with full black mane were brought to London and elsewhere, say twentyfivo to fifty skins yearly, now such skins are offered so rarely that prices from £IOO to £2OO are often reached. A few of tho wild animals formerly hunted for their skins havo been bred in recent years more or less successfully in captivity within rostrictetd areas, or on special farms, viz., the buffalo, silver fox, blue fox, white fox, mink, and skunk.

Concerning fiho annual toll of the royal tigers, leopards, and snakes taken in British India, an interesting fact lias been brought to light by the recent sta r tistics. It appars that the number of these animals caught was, curiously enough, just about the same as that of tho human beings who were kilkkl by them. There is, of course, the unavoidable decrease brought about by the. spread of civilisation, and tho consequent cultivation of forests and vast regions, formerly uninhabited. In conclusion, it may bo said that, of the largo number of fur-bearing animals known to commerce, there appeal's to bo at present no species of which serious shortages aro anticipated in the near future. This, happily, will continue if tho protective legislation already existing in several countries is maintained, and perhaps extended to the animals specially referred to above.