440 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Burma. The following comprehensive account is furnished by 

 Peacock (1933, pp. 137-141) : 



Before the introduction of guns and rifles, thamin were probably the most 

 numerous of the deer tribe in Central Burma. Their range extended from 

 the Katha District in Northern Burma to the Pegu district in Lower 

 Burma. . . . 



At the present time thamin are found in greatest numbers in the Dry Zone, 

 in the forest divisions of Shwebo, Mu, Lower Chindwin, Yaw, Meiktila, 

 Minbu, Mag we and Thayetmyo. A few thamin are also to be found in parts 

 of the Mogok, Yamethin, Henzada and other Divisions, but their numbers 

 are decreasing so rapidly that they are sure to be eliminated very soon from 

 all except typically Dry Zone Divisions. 



The case of the thamin is one of the very black spots in the page of game 

 conservation in Burma. In the face of a terribly rapid diminution in their 

 numbers one of the most beautiful species of deer remain unprotected by a 

 single sanctuary or game park. 



The brow-antlered deer is one which cannot tolerate heavy forests or hills. 

 His habitat is the open scrub and indaing forests on the flat or undulating land 

 .... No matter how he is persecuted he will not change his habitat. More- 

 over, he is remarkably stupid in that he will allow a bullock-cart to be 

 driven within a few yards of his stand. Previous to the revision of the 

 game rules and the prohibition of shooting from any vehicle, thamin were 

 slaughtered in hundreds by sportsmen(?) and poachers who approached them 

 in this manner. 



The habitat of thamin, always very accessible, is now being increasingly 

 threaded by railway, road and water communications, and the number of guns 

 issued to natives of the country is also on the increase. Cultivation has 

 spread over the grounds occupied by thamin and, since these deer will not 

 change their grounds or cease from their habit of feeding on man-made 

 crops within their reach, they are being shot out partly in defence of crops 

 and partly under cover of that excuse. 



Obviously, the only certain means of perpetuating the existence of thamin 

 is to set aside a few sanctuaries or parks in localities which are not required 

 for cultivation and sufficiently removed from crops to render the preserva- 

 tion of these deer feasible. This course would have been an easy one a few 

 years ago: now it is not so easy. . . . 



In the absence of sanctuaries there is nothing so certain as an early 

 termination to the existence of the brow-antlered deer. . . . 



In the Singaung area in the Shwebo District I saw herds of fifteen animals 

 and more as recently as last year. . . . 



They enter crops and the stubble of crops nightly when such are within 

 reach, and fall a frequent victim of the poacher, the light from whose electric 

 torch appears to fascinate them into immobility. . . . 



Thamin . . . can become an unmitigated nuisance to the villager in some 

 localities. . . . 



Females, and stags not in hard horn, are protected throughout the year. 



Stags in hard horn may be shot in unclassed forests without a game license 

 and, in reserved forests, under authority of a game license. The license usually 

 prescribes that only one stag may be shot, and that his horn must exceed 

 30 inches in length. 



Any wild animal engaged in crop destruction may be shot. ... So there 

 is every opportunity for the poacher and field-owner to shoot these deer 

 under cover of crop protection. 



