THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE FAUNA 285 



thousand tons in weight. It is, however, unusual to find 

 more than a stray horn here and there in jungles where deer 

 are numerous. They are systematically searched for and col- 

 lected by the neighbouring villagers and sold in the bazaars. 

 Government realizes but little revenue under this head. 

 And yet it is a minor product of the forest and waste lands. 



The Forest Officer has had the duties of gamekeeper 

 added to his other arduous ones in the forest. He issues the 

 permits for shooting ; allocates the blocks between the 

 various permit-holders, possibly finding when this distribu- 

 tion has been made that there will be but a small area 

 left in which he may fire a rifle himself. The revenue from 

 the permits goes to Government. But it is a small return 

 for the value of the large number of mammals, birds and 

 fish killed and sold annually on their property. It has been 

 recognized that the products of the flora belong to the 

 Government and they are collected and sold in the interests 

 of the revenue. The same pohcy should be extended to cover 

 the products of the fauna. 



It may be suggested that this could be done by setting up 

 a staff who should have the charge of advising on the best 

 means of collecting the revenue derivable from the fauna as 

 a whole. That, in fact, the fauna should be treated as one 

 of the economic products of the country and that mammals, 

 birds and fishes should only be killed on licence. The case 

 of the sportsman has already been dealt with. His object is 

 to secure pleasure combined with such trophies of the chase 

 as good fortune and his own skill will win by well-understood 

 sporting methods. But the far larger body of individuals 

 interested in the destruction of the fauna of the country are 

 professionals. They kill to sell and their operations should 

 be controlled by the issue of a licence permitting them to 

 kill a certain number of head of the animal named in the 

 permit and by the payment of a royalty on the animals so 

 killed, before they are taken out of the area in which they 

 are secured. 



In fact they should be treated on similar lines to those 

 employed in the collection of minor produce from the 

 forests. In the case of the forests the licences would be 

 issued and the royalties collected by the Forest Staff 

 in a manner similar to other forest produce. It would 

 be essential, for the orderly management of these forests 

 under the existing working plans in force, plans which 



