BUREAU OF THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 97 



the field organization and centralized the organization at 

 headquarters at Washington. 



Control of Predatory Animals and Rodents: It is a 

 theory, advanced by some naturalists, that nature untouched 

 by man will itself work out a balance between the various 

 species of wild life, using one species to check overproduc- 

 tion in another. Whether in the long run this is true or 

 not, and recent experiences of the Division would seem to 

 cast much doubt upon its validity, man from the economic 

 point of view cannot always afford to wait for such a bal- 

 ance to adjust itself. 



The Division of Game Management operating upon a 

 realistic basis has set out to eradicate predatory animals and 

 rodents in those areas where it is economically profitable to 

 do so. It is not attempting total eradication of whole 

 species, but only to eradicate them in such areas where they 

 are doing sufficient damage to make the necessary expendi- 

 tures for eradication profitable. 



Whether the Survey should have undertaken this type of 

 work at all has long been a moot question among conser- 

 vationists. It is a question difficult to answer, and only time 

 can determine the wisdom of the policy. 



It will be recalled 32 that the state legislatures at first 

 tried to subsidize the killing of predatory animals through 

 a bounty system. It failed to be effective because of the 

 opportunities for fraud inherent in the system. In some 

 cases breeding areas were deliberately maintained by profes- 

 sional hunters; in other cases skins taken in one state were 

 shipped to another paying a higher bounty. Fundamentally, 

 the system was wrong because the chief aim of the hunters 

 was not to eradicate the evil but to continue it so as to have 

 a source of financial return. 



32 See supra. 



