Show r r I Ii i J I If f I it l i J R 7 it 7 I g I The story stor of how we we Amer Amer e leans have hav ruthlessly wiped out many of our birds and animal species is la not a pretty one But we have awakened at last Save for the few species that still tumble on the verge of ex ex Unction exploitation from former tion it isn't likely that an ani ani- animal mal kingdom will disappear for for forever ever and completely from the North American continent or orits orits its adjacent waters Under Under- Understanding Understanding standing and not unchecked murder is is the order of the day Eddie Dressen reminds us that the auk was one of the first species to go down A scientist who visited Funk Island in 1818 found such an enormous amount of bones and feathers that he declared Millions of birds must have died there able at sea because so swift a swimmer on land the auk was easy prey because of ot his awk awk- awkwardness The first venturesome French fishermen who came to fish off the Newfoundland banks in 1947 followed the auk to his I nesting place and killed it in its such numbers that no other meat was necessary The auk could be killed with clubs and easily slaughtered guns Other fishermen followed The last living auk was seen in 1852 Probably never again will there be written a history so tragic as that of the the passenger p enger pigeon The last living spec spec- specimen men of this bird died in the Cin Cin- Cincinnati Cincinnati Zoological Garden in 1914 while in 1806 more mOTe than nests of pigeons were found in Ih one tree and flights contain contain- containing ing could be seen overhead It was decided at that time that pigeons could never be exterminated exterminated but but but they the t h e y didn't know then what what- market shooters could do The pigeons were constantly consta There has never been a slaughter ter to equal it it Contemporaneous with the passenger pigeon was the buffalo falo Only those who actually witnessed the herds herda that hat once I were can have any conception of the numbers in which they existed Fires floods and bUz bliz bUzzards took their to but had hd no appreciable effect on the herds Then the white man happened along alone and buffalo were shot so that out of the millions which hod once only about remained This pitiful rem rem- remnant nant received adequate protection protection tion and the buffalo was saved from extinction The hen heath-hen sea otter ping cranes all have bio bio- biographies graphics that reflect the tales of murder lust greed and ra ra- ra rapacity But there is a bright side Birds and beast no longer are looked upon solely at things to kill Sane laws govern their taking faking trained wardens look after their welfare and nd sports sports- sportsmen sportsmen men tragedies being aware of ot past dies exercise good Judgment in Inthe inthe the shooting of game |