240 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



. . . The only trouble is that with the unrestricted hunting that takes place, and 

 the steady increase in the settlement of the country, this valuable supply of 

 fur-bearing animals is rapidly diminishing. . . . 



It is evident that one of the chief objects of the conquest of Siberia was 

 to secure a supply of sable skins for the Imperial Government, and it is 

 significant that the conquering Cossacks . . . always imposed a heavy tribute 

 of sable skins upon the Tartar tribes they defeated, and brought under 

 subjection .... 



In Siberia this animal is protected by the Government, and comparatively 

 recently it was given a five years closed season. 



The Cedar Valley Reservation (Kedrovaya Pad) on Amur Bay, 

 comprising 7,500 hectares, and the Kronotsk Bay Reservation in 

 Kamchatka, comprising 15,000 hectares, provide for the protection 

 of the Sable (Makaroff, in Skottsberg, 1934, pp. 433-434) . 



In Sakhalin the Sable is distributed over the entire island, and in 

 1889 it was considered more numerous there than in any other part 

 of Siberia (Ognev, 1931, p. 574). 



Mongolia. P. P. Sushkin reported in 1925 that the Sable was a 

 regular inhabitant of the southern slopes of the Altai Mountains, 

 about the headwaters of the Black Irtish and the Urungu. It is also 

 abundant in the vicinity of Kossogol, at the southern base of the 

 Sayan Mountains. (Ognev, 1931, p. 572.) 



Manchuria. The most valuable fur-bearing animal of Manchuria 

 is the Sable (Sowerby, 1934, p. 286) . 



"The Manchurian sable does not come up to those from the Amur, 

 Primorskaya and Siberia in the value of its pelt. ... It is said 

 that the Chinese nearly always hunt the sable by running it down 

 with dogs. . . . 



"Unfortunately the Chinese Government is not alive to the value 

 of its game and fur-bearing animals and birds, and so affords no 

 manner of protection. There can be only one result of this; com- 

 plete extinction of the sable in the provinces of Heilungkiang and 

 Kirin." (Sowerby, 1923, pp. 64-65.) 



Japan. Temminck (1844, pp. 33-34) described the Japanese 

 Sable from Yezo (Hokkaido) and added that it was common in all 

 the Kuriles. It was being utilized in the fur trade in his day. 



In Hokkaido "the sables . . . have . . . met a sad fate and in 

 spite of particular protection, their coming back to their existence 

 as before is anything but promising. . . . 



"It is interesting to note that the increase of the Japanese minks 

 [Mustela itatsi] in Hokkaido associates closely with the decrease 

 of the sables which occupied the land before the minks and de- 

 creased inland gradually from the southern part. The number of 

 sables caught in Hokkaido was 2,395 in 1906, 765 in 1910, 1,706 in 

 1915 and 214 in 1919 respectively." (Inukai, 19326, pp. 524, 527.) 



Uchida reports (1935, p. 8) a total of 5,948 Japanese Sables taken 

 during the six-months open season of 1929-30. 



