26 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUK INDUSTRIES, 1911. 



approacliiiig extinction of the fur-bearing animals from persistent 

 hvniting, use of needlessly destructive methods of capture and 

 destruction of the young, the influence of food factors is less notice- 

 able. On the otiier hand, as proper regulation govcrnmg the capture 

 of the flesh-eating fur animals permits tlieir number to increase, 

 knowledge of the vegetable-catmg anhxijils that furnish them food 

 will become again of practical miportance. 



There are three principal groups of bears in Alaska — the polar, the 

 brown, and the black bears. Under the Alaska game law, the 

 brown bear is classed with the game animals and is under the juris- 

 diction of the Bureau of Biological Survey of the Department of 

 Agriculture. For statistical purposes only, the Dcjiartmcnt of 

 Commerce and Labor requires statements from the shippers of pelts 

 of these animals. 



There is no open season for polar bears and t hoir killing at any time 

 is unlawful. The black bear is regarded as a fur-bearing animal and 

 its killing is permitted, except during the summer when its fur is of 

 little or no value, from June I to August 31. 



Some criticism lias been made of tlie laws protecting the brown 

 and black ]>cars to tlic cTect that they are destructive to domestic 

 stock, and in the case of the former, a menace to human life. The 

 best evidence obtainal)le from hunters and those familiar with the 

 habits of bears indicates that they rarely or never attack man untU 

 wounded or cornered. They usually make oil' as rapidly as possible 

 and the hunter finds great difficulty in coming within sight of them. 



With regard to the destruction of cattle, it is doubtless true that 

 bears will, when driven by hunger, destroy pigs and other domestic 

 animals. But the limited extent to wliicli the raising of domestic 

 animals is now carried on in sections of Alaska where such damage would 

 interfere with the proper and profitable conduct of the industry 

 reduces such danger to a negligible quantity. The few possible 

 isolated cases of loss have not been shown to justify the destruction 

 of a valuable fiu" animal and a species of big game which attracts 

 many hunters with the consequent beiiefit to the territory. 



Wolves may be killed in any season. Placing a bounty upon them 

 would be a salutary measure. The heavy inroads made upon the 

 deer of southeast Alaska by the indiscriminate slaughter a few years 

 ago have apparently so reduced the natural productivity of that 

 animal that it is approaching extinction. Scarcity of natural 

 food for the wolves has forced them more into evidence, and after 



