GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 265 



exterminating the rhinoceros {Rhinoceros unicornis), which, 

 together with the elephant and the gaur or Indian bison 

 {Bos gaurus), would without protection probably soon 

 disappear from the jungles which have known them for 

 so long. 



With a view to affording a certain protection to animals 

 of this kind and of giving a rest to species which have been 

 heavily thinned in a district by indiscriminate shooting in 

 the past or by anthrax, drought, etc., the idea of the Game 

 Sanctuary was introduced into India (and in other parts 

 of the world) and has been accepted in many parts of the 

 country. The Sanctuary consists of a block of country, 

 either of forest or grassland, etc., depending upon the 

 nature of the animal to which Sanctuary is required to be 

 given ; the area has rough boundaries such as roads, fire 

 Hues, nullahs, etc., assigned to it, and no shooting of any 

 kind is allowed in it if it is a Sanctuary pure and simple ; 

 or the shooting of carnivora may be permitted, or of these 

 and of everything else save certain specified animals. 



Sanctuaries may be formed in two ways : 



I. The area is automatically closed and reopened for certain 

 definite periods of years. 



II. The area is closed until the head of game has become 

 satisfactory, and the shooting on the area is then regulated, no 

 further closing taking place, save in exceptional circumstances. 



I. The Sanctuary is automatically closed and reopened for a 

 definite period of years. The Sanctuary is notified for a 

 period of years : this period would naturally be variable, 

 but it is of importance, I think, that it should not be placed 

 at too great a length, or the animals in the Sanctuary, so 

 long immune from danger, would on the reopening of the 

 area be so unused to the sportsman that they would be 

 shot down in a very short space of time. Probably the 

 period during which a block of forest is closed to all shooting 

 should never exceed, a^ the most, three years. Sir John 

 Hewett, when Lieut. -Governor of the United Provinces, 

 held the opinion that a period of five years for a Sanctuary 

 was too long. He thought that the ground of the Sanctuary 

 should be changed every two or three years, probably the 

 former, and that the animals would soon learn where the 

 Sanctuary was. He also agreed that before opening a 

 Sanctuary to sportsmen the area should be beaten through 

 so as to distribute and disperse the game, and not have them 



