GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 263 



Rules were in existence for the Forest Reserves of the 

 country, but they related chiefly to a close season, the 

 latter- in some cases only applicable to the females, and 

 the same was the case for the open country, where the 

 rules usually related to birds only. These regulations were, 

 however, openly broken, and the penalties in existence were 

 practically rarely put into force, except by some exception- 

 ally energetic officer ; and even then an appeal was often 

 upheld and the orders passed reversed. 



At length, however, the apathy that hung over this 

 question gave place to some show of interest, which was 

 followed by activity on the part of the Government of India, 

 galvanized into activity by the outcry, increasing in intensity 

 each year, that the game of the country was doomed and 

 that but a few years separated it from extinction. Local 

 Administrations were addressed on the subject of the Rules 

 and Regulations in force in their Presidencies and Provinces 

 under the Forest and other Acts, and as to the steps 

 necessary to be taken to prevent the extinction of the 

 several heads of game, excluding carnivora. This led to 

 many separate enquiries being undertaken throughout the 

 country, to a prolific correspondence in the Press, of which 

 desultory rumblings are still heard, and to many improve- 

 ments being initiated in the Shooting and Game Rules 

 throughout India. I am aware that I am laying myself 

 open to serious attack in thus stating the case, but it is 

 maintained that any and every rule that is made with the 

 idea of protecting the game of a country is a step in the 

 right direction, and therefore advantageous both to the 

 sportsman and the game itself, however hard it may seem 

 to fall on a particular body of individuals or on a particular 

 individual. 



What was required was to fix the close seasons definitely, 

 and the Government of India have now, as we shall see, 

 promulgated an Act to give power to fix a close season for 

 different kinds of animals. 



It must be remembered that the old-time rulers in India 

 were the de facto owners of all the forests and waste lands 

 of the country, including all the animal inhabitants thereof. 

 The Government of India are the present owners, and have, 

 therefore, every right to safeguard this valuable property. 

 They have done so in the case of the forests. But they 

 have been slow to realize the value of the animals and the 



