126 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



spicuous example of such refuges is the Yellowstone Park, the 

 unquestioned success of which is admitted on all sides. 



At the end of the century, the gold discovered in the extreme 

 northwest of Canada and in Alaska brought these territories sud- 

 denly before the public eye. Here was a district of enormous 

 extent, lying at the extreme limit of the continent, and populated 

 by a large and varied fauna, which was practically undisturbed. 

 During the last ten years, thousands of prospectors and miners 

 have gone into Alaska, and in many places worked havoc W'ith 

 the game. On the whole, however, the destruction of the game 

 has not yet gone far enough to permanently injure the fauna of 

 the region, provided the matter of protection is taken in hand 

 scientifically and /;; the immediate future. 



We have in Alaska a gigantic preserve. In it there are not 

 only several species rich in the numbers of their individual mem- 

 bers, but also certain species which in point of size appear to 

 be the very culmination of their respective genera, as for ex- 

 ample, the giant moose. The brown bear group of southern 

 Alaska certainly contains the largest bears in the world, not even 

 excepting the great fish bear of Kamchatka, or the extinct cave 

 bear of Europe. The largest known wolves are found in north- 

 ern Alaska, and a wolverine of exceptional size has been recently 

 described. When this great game region was first opened up, 

 immediate legislation was needed to protect the animals from the 

 deliberate onslaught of hide hunters in southeastern Alaska ; of 

 head hunters, who attacked the moose, sheep and caribou of the 

 Kenai Peninsula, and of the market hunters generally through- 

 out the coast regions. A game law, which certainly proved 

 effective in making it difficult for sportsmen to hunt in Alaska, 

 was passed, and a revision of this statute is now before Congress. 

 It is not the intention to discuss in this paper the details of the 

 proposed legislation, beyond saying that the measure is proposed 

 by the friends of animal life in Alaska, and has the support of 

 the best interests in that territory. 



The general principles of game protection, applicable to the 

 situation in Alaska, are simple. It should be clearly understood 

 that the game of Alaska, or of any other region, does not belong 

 exclusively to the human inhabitants of that particular region, 

 and that neither the white settlers nor the native inhabitants 

 have any inherent right to the game, other than that conferred 

 by law. The interest of the entire people of the United States, 

 and to some extent that of the civilized world, is centered in the 

 continued existence of the forms of animal life which have come 



