Part 1 (2/2)
”In the administration of this Reserve the government adopts a policy which has shown admirable results; and as this policy is in direct contrast to the one pursued in the Algonquin Park it may be interesting to explain and discuss it. It can be admitted, as a matter of theory, that a 'public park and pleasure ground' should be maintained by the people for the people, and that no individuals should have exclusive rights conferred upon them to fish or shoot within it. This ideal conception takes no account of human nature, and a scheme that has to do with the control and conduct of men should not disregard their weaknesses, or the powerful motive of self-interest.
The greater part of the Laurentide Park is free to anyone who takes out a license and complies with certain regulations. But, at the points most threatened by poachers, the practice is followed of granting five-year leases of moderate areas to individuals and to clubs. The first requirement of these grants is that the lessee shall appoint a guardian, approved by the Department, and shall cause the conceded territories to be protected in an adequate manner. The guardian, for his part, is immediately answerable to an individual who pays his salary. He contrasts his former precarious living as a trapper or poacher with the a.s.sured competence which he now earns more easily, and makes his election in favor of virtue. Thus he becomes a faithful servant both of the Government and his employer, and a really effective unit in the protection of the Park. The lessee, in turn, will neither practice nor tolerate any infringement of the laws which would imperil his lease, nor deplete of fish and game a country which he intends to revisit. He would not necessarily be actuated by these motives if he entered the Park casually and considered nothing but his own sport or pleasure. It may be added that the lessee has reasonable a.s.surance of the extension of his privileges if they are not abused and knows that he will be compensated for moneys properly expended if the Government sees fit not to renew his term. The guardians co-operate with one another under the general guidance of a most competent inspector, and the striking increase in fish, fur and feather is apparent not only in the region immediately protected but also ouside its boundaries. Trappers who fought bitterly against being excluded from this part of the public domain now find that the overflow of wild life into the surrounding country enables them to bring more pelts to market than they did in the old days, and have become reconciled. Guardians, gillies, carters, porters and canoemen live in whole or in part, on providing fis.h.i.+ng and shooting. Under no other arrangement could the conceded territory afford sport and a living to so many people, and in no other way could the balance between resources and their exhaustion be so nicely maintained.”
On page 47, Mr. Blake corroborates the statement of the shameful act I mentioned at the bottom of page 18 of my _Address_. ”On sighting a band of six caribou he bade his man sit down to give him a rest for his rifle. He then fired and continued firing till all were killed.
When his companion made to walk towards the animals, Sir ---- said to him roughly:
”'Where are you going?'
”'To cut up the caribou.'
”'... I don't want them.'”
This game murderer killed three times as many as the prescribed limit on this one occasion. Yet nothing was done to him!
SANCTUARIES
However desirable they are from any point of view leaseholds are not likely to cover much of Labrador for some time to come. They should be encouraged only on condition that every lessee of every kind--sportsman, professional on land or water, lumberman or other--accepts the obligation to keep and enforce the wild-life protection laws in co-operation with the public wardens who guard the sanctuaries, watch the open areas and patrol the trade outlets.
I have very little to add to what I said about sanctuaries in the _Address_. Most of the information received since it was published has only emphasized the points it made. And as no one has opposed and many have supported the establishment of the Harrington sanctuary I again recommend it strongly. The 64 miles in a straight line between cape Whittle and cape Mekattina should be made into an absolute sanctuary for all birds and mammals. If some more ground can be taken in on either side, so much the better. But the 64 miles must be kept in any case. The Bird rocks and Bonaventure island, one of the Mingans, the Perroquets, Egg island and The Pilgrims, are all desirable in every way. There are plenty of islands to choose from along the Atlantic Labrador and round Hudson and James bays. It is most important to keep the migratory birds free from molestation during the first fortnight after their arrival; and the same applies to migratory mammals, though not quite in the same way. Inland sanctuaries should be made near Hamilton inlet, in the Mingan and Mista.s.sini districts and up the Eastmain river. Ultimately an Arctic sanctuary might be made on either Baffin or Melville islands. A meteorological station in the Arctic, linked up with Labrador by wireless, would be of great benefit to the weather forecasts, as we now have no reports from where so much of our cold or mild winters are affected by the different drift of enormous ice-fields; and whenever one is established, a wild-life protection station should accompany it.
Sanctuaries should never be too big; not one tenth of the whole area will ever be required for them. But they should be placed where they will best serve the double purpose of being natural wild ”zoos” and over-flowing reservoirs of wild-life. The exact situations of most, especially inland, will require a good deal of co-operative study between zoologists and other experts. But there is no doubt whatever, that they ought to be established, no matter how well the laws are enforced over both leaseholds and open areas. Civilised man is appreciating them more and more every day; and every day he is becoming better able to reach them. By giving absolute security to all desirable species in at least two different localities we can keep objects of Nature study in the best possible way both for ourselves and our posterity.
Only twelve years ago forty mills were debasing the immemorial and gigantic sequoia into mere timber in its last refuge in California.
But even the general public sees now that this was a barbarous and idiotic perversion of relative values. What is a little perishable timber, for which subst.i.tutes can be found elsewhere, compared with a grove of trees that will be the wonder and delight of generations?
What is the fleeting but abominable gratification of destroying the harmless lizard-like Tuatera of New Zealand compared with the deep interest of preserving it as the last living vertebrate that takes us back to Primary times? What is the momentary gratification of wearing egret feathers compared with the certainty of soon destroying the herons that produce them altogether; or what can compensate for the vile cruelty done to mutilated parent birds and starving young, or the murder of Bradley, the bird warden when trying to protect them?
LETTERS
The following quotations from a few of the many and wholly unsolicited letters received are arranged in alphabetical order. They are strictly _verbatim_:
_Australia._ The Animals' Protection Society. F. Montagu Rothery, Esq., Secretary, 82 Pitt Street, Sydney, New South Wales.
Here in this State our _fauna_ and _flora_ are both rapidly disappearing, there being so many agencies at work for their destruction. It will soon be too late to save many of our beautiful birds and animals, and I am anxious to bring under notice your words for the preservation of animals by a system of sanctuaries.
Dr. Robert Bell, late Chief Geologist, Geological Survey of Canada, who has made many explorations in Labrador and adjacent lands and waters, and who has always given special attention to the mammals, writes:
I approve very heartily of the plan. It will be a humane thing to try to protect the animals and will be very advantageous in every way. It will no doubt receive the sympathy of all cla.s.ses. There will, however, be some difficulties to overcome and much work to be done before the plan gets into successful operation.... As to the location and dimensions of the sanctuary, the north side of the lower St. Lawrence is the most suitable or only region left, except where it is too far north to benefit the most of the mammals and birds which we should try to preserve. It will be desirable to reserve and protect as great a length of the sh.o.r.e as possible, but perhaps enough will be found between Bradore bay on the east and Great Mekattina island on the west, or this might be extended to Natashkwan. To carry it up to Mingan, it would become more and more difficult to protect the coast the further up you come. Between Mekattina island and Natashkwan, there are no attractive rivers to tempt trespa.s.sers to go inland, those which exist being difficult for canoe navigation....
The animals soon find out where they are safe and come to live in even a small area. The Algonquin park is a case in point. There the bears have increased immensely in a few years and the less noticeable mammals and birds have also increased very much. I know of a more conspicuous case of a small area, on the Nelson river, where, owing to an old-standing superst.i.tion of the Indians, the animals have not been molested for a long period and they have become much more numerous than elsewhere.... Everything that can be killed is called Game. Most of it should be called animal murder and should be discouraged.
The Sanctuary should be placed in charge of a committee of naturalists. But zoologists are scarce in Canada and those who have taken an interest in the animals might be included.
Faithful men to carry out their instructions I think can be found.
The President of the Boone and Crockett Club, Major W. Austin Wadsworth, Geneseo, N.Y., wrote:
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