OCR Text |
Show Snakei and Wild leasts in India. The government of India appear to be at variance with experts like Mr. Yldal on the question of the feasibility of the "stamping: out" process as applied ap-plied to the snakes which annually exact so large a tribute of human life in that country. Tha significant fact is that in spite of the large number destroyed every year under the stimulus stimu-lus of the government reward no perceptiblo impression is made upon this terrible scourge. In eleven years the annual average of deaths by snake bite has been 20,000. The opinion opin-ion of the government appears to be that the snake contest is not to bo carried on in the jungle, where these reptiles do little harm, but in the villages, vil-lages, where they find cover in heaps of refuse. Compared with snakes the most formidable of mau-eating animals ani-mals are unimportant The total number of human beings killed by wild animals in ten years is under 30,-000, 30,-000, while the number of wild beasts slain for that period is nearly 1GC.000. including 17,885 tigers, 44,464 leopards, and 61,404 wolves. It will be seen that in this war of extermina- tion man has considerably the best of it Unfortunately, here, as in the case of snakes, the rewards produce little impression on numbers. Fourteen Four-teen and a half lakhs of rupees have been paid during the last ten years without resulting in any diminution whatever in the loss of life caused by the larger carnivora. |