ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



503 



MT. OLYMPUS NATIONAL PRESERVE. 



also as a record of the almost incredible ex- 

 ploits of Mr. Jones in catching alive nine pumas, 

 by strength of nerve, arm and lasso ! 



Already the Grand Canon Preserve contains 

 a few mountain sheep, many mule deer, — and 

 far too many "mountain lions." Buckskin 

 Mountain and its environs would make a fine 

 sanctuary for elk, but it would be necessary to 

 introduce them. The lower slopes would graze 

 ten thousand bison, but very few persons would 

 ever see them. With the lapse of time — and 

 cattaloes — it will be in order for the National 

 Government to purchase outright the pure-blood 

 bison of Mr. Jones and his partners, and let 

 them alone where they are, to found another 

 national herd. 



HOPE FOR THE ANTELOPE. 



BOTH Montana and Wyoming have recently 

 enacted new laws providing absolute pro- 

 tection for the prong-horned antelope for a 

 series of years. This is a great achievement, 

 for the reason that the chain of protection for 

 that species is now nearly complete. In no 



state or territory is it now legal to hunt ante- 

 lope, at any time ; and the penalties for the law- 

 breakers are severe. 



It is now in order to work for the enforce- 

 ment of the .antelope laws; and the first thing 

 to do is to reach all ranchmen of antelope coun- 

 tries with a strong appeal to their patriotism 

 and humanity for the creation of a new cowboy 

 sentiment in behalf of antelope preservation. 



On January 26 the Arizona Daily Star pub- 

 lished the news that after an absence of nearly 

 20 years a band of antelope, containing nearly 

 50 head, had been seen in Pima County, between 

 the Comobabi and Baboquivari Mountains. 

 This is one of the results of the ten years of 

 close protection that Arizona wisely has accord- 

 ed her most interesting desert species. All 

 honor to Arizona ! 



The laws for the antelope are now sufficient. 

 The next thing to provide is for their enforce- 

 ment. We must reach the stockmen, and ask 

 them to do that which no one else can do! If 

 they will say, "Cowboys, there must be no more 

 killing of antelope. We wish you to protect 

 them, at all times, and in all possible ways!" — 

 then protected they will be ! 



There are yet remaining alive probably 5,000 

 antelope, all told ; but we hope that the days of 

 antelope hunting have ended forever. The rem- 

 nant bands should now be as safe from attack 

 by man as are the animals of a zoological park. 

 The boys of the West should be taught in their 

 schools that it is a sin to kill an antelope. Too 

 many thousand square miles of Western plains 

 are now barren and lifeless because the beauti- 

 ful prong-horn is gone from them. With range 

 cattle and sheep swarming on ten thousand hills, 

 the poor little "saddle" of the prong-horn is no 

 longer needed by anyone as human food. 



The antelope is one of our greatest American 

 zoological curiosities, — unique, odd, isolated. 

 It has no near relatives anywhere on this earth. 

 Let it alone, and it will take care of itself, and 

 harm nothing. As an ornament to gray and 

 melancholy wastes, as beautiful wild-life amid 

 barrenness, as the companion of the plainsman, 

 and as the great American odditj', it deserves 

 to live and be let alone. 



It is greatly to the national credit that we 

 now are able to publish to the world the news 

 that in every portion of its range throughout 

 the United States the prong-horn is absolutely 

 protected, and for it there is no open season. 

 If we can but maintain this condition, and stop 

 unlawful killing by the residents of antelope 

 territory, it may really happen that the Amer- 

 icans of A. D. 1935 will find the antelope still 

 living in our land. 



