NOTES ON THE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE 



IN ALASKA. 



BY J. ALDEN LORING, 



FIELD AGENT, N. V. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



I HAVE been asked by many persons in Alaska to attempt to 

 do something to save the large mammals of that territory 

 from the destruction which now threatens them. 



At present Alaska has no game-laws, and the time has come 

 when some legislation should be enacted to protect its most val- 

 uable animals from total destruction. While many will say that 

 there is yet an abundance of game in that country, we must not 

 wait until wild life has been so diminished that it is necessary 

 to prohibit killing for a period of years in order to preserve the 

 different species. Alaska is a new country, and, like most 

 countries when new, portions of it still contain a great many 

 wild animals. ' But the same wanton destruction is going on 

 there that always follows civilization. 



In the opening up of Alaska, the game is going to play the 

 same part that the buffalo did in civilizing the Western States. 

 The people there realize what the extermination of game means 

 to them. Miners, natives, and prospectors understand that it 

 would cut short their only supply of fresh meat, and most of 

 them would favor the enactment of reasonable game-laws. 



It is not the number of animals actually killed for food that 

 decreases the ranks, so much as those wantonly destroyed, or 

 shot for only a portion of their bodies. It is believed by re- 

 sponsible men that five moose are killed for every one that is 

 used. 



Already game has diminished to such an extent that it is nec- 

 essary to prohibit even prospectors and natives from killing it 

 during the breeding season. But this will be no great hardship, 

 for other than a few animals killed by the natives, the amount 



