THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE FAUNA 283 



The game animals and animals of economic value were in 

 such abundance in the country that the chances of a species 

 becoming exterminated must have appeared remote. The 

 position, as has been shown, is now very different. But I 

 think it can only be truly appreciated by the class of 

 sportsman whose love of the jungles and of natural history 

 has led him to spend much of his time in a study of the 

 animal life and to draw deductions as the result of a number 

 of years passed in this way. There are men in India at the 

 present day who have made this study, and I have little 

 doubt that they would support the view that solely from 

 the economic standpoint the Government have a real 

 interest in the preservation of the fauna. 



The sportsman pays for his licence to kill game and the 

 laws of the Province are made to see that he only kills that 

 for which he has paid and does no harm to the area whilst 

 engaged on his quest. But what do the professional shikari, 

 the professional bird-snarer, and the poacher pay ? These 

 classes exist by the thousand throughout the country and 

 their depredations go unchecked. Have the ways of these 

 men been considered by the Government or are they unknown 

 to them ? The Act does not show. One can only conclude 

 that they are unknown and, therefore, the economic value 

 of the animals annually killed by them is not realized. It 

 is not merely the actual annual pecuniary value of the 

 animals secured by these men which is in question. As 

 they are no respecters of season, age or sex, their actions 

 are resulting in depreciating to an enormous extent the 

 potential economic value of the fauna, since the destruction 

 of females of all ages brings about a constant decrease in 

 the numbers annually reared of each species, i.e., in a 

 depreciation in the economic value of the stock year by 

 year owing to the decrease in the number of the head left 

 to breed. 



It is known for a fact that mammals yielding skins of a 

 high commercial value and birds producing plumes are in 

 danger of extinction throughout the world, owing to the 

 cupidity of the commercial firms dealing in such produce. 

 The valuable egret plumes of India are a case in point, the 

 musk deer of the Himalaya, and so forth. The trader is no 

 respecter of sex or season if he has a valuable market. 



Where possible, there is no reason why the trade of a 

 country in this respect should not be maintained. But a 



