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Show Vanishing Key Deer to be Featured During 1952 National Wildlife Week, March 16-22 National Wildlife Week, sponsored annually by the National Wildlife Federation, will be dedicated this year to helping one of America's most interesting wild animals the diminutive Key deer in its last-ditch fight for survival. The week will be observed ob-served March 16-22, and its chairman will be Ed Dodd, nationally . known cartoonist, conservationist and outdoor enthusiast. ation is attempting to provide the protection for the deer on their home grounds. Little more than knee-high, J ihe elusive Key deer weighs no more than 30 to 35 pounds when full grown. Their fawns are about the size of rabbits . National Wildl'.fe Week has ' been an annual observance since 1938, sponsored by the non- profit Federation as a means of calling public attention to the I broad and pressing problems of natural resource management. The 1952 celebration will mark the beginning of a new series in which each year a particular kind of wildlife some species considered in critical or precarious precari-ous condition will be given special atention. Carl D. Shoemaker, conserva- tion director of the federation, said the nearly extinct Key deer will be used as a symbol of America's dwindling natural resources re-sources which may yet be saved or restored. According to federal wildlife authorities, only about 30 of these unique little animals, smallest race of whitetail deer, remain alive. Menaced by poachers, predators and forest fires, they cling to a precarious existence on the Keys off the coast of Florida. During the last i year several have been killed by speeding automobiles along the j overseas highway to Key West, j As part of the observance of ' National' Wildlife Week, the Federation Fed-eration has created a special fund which will be used first to keep a special protection officer of-ficer on the job in the Key deer area. This will supplement an effort already started by other organizations in coo peration with the U S Fish and Wildlife Service. Next the Federation will help improve the island habitat of the deer, thru such measures as ' constructing water holes for the animals and protective fences along highways. The Federation is supporting legislation in Congress Con-gress to establish a federal sanctuary sanc-tuary in the area. Because of the centuries long adjustment to its own island background, the surviving herd cannot be transplanted to other regions where they might be better protected. For this reason, rea-son, Shoemaker said, the Feder- |