CHAPTER VIII 



THE ENEMIES OF WILD LIFE AND THE CONTROL 

 OF PREDATORY ANIMALS 



Any rational system of wild-life protection must take 

 into account the control of the predatory species of mam- 

 mals and birds. And while the complete extermination of 

 such predatory species is not possible, desirable, or neces- 

 sary, a degree of control must be exercised to prevent such 

 an increase in numbers as would affect the abundance of 

 the non-predatory species. In the treatment of predatory 

 animals it is necessary to determine whether the species 

 concerned are responsible for more harm than good in a 

 particular region. 



The creation on any extensive scale of wild life reserves 

 will inevitably result in an increase within, and the attrac- 

 tion to such reserves of predatory mammals such as wolves 

 and coyotes, and of birds such as eagles, great horned owls, 

 and such noxious hawks as the goshawk, Cooper's, and sharp- 

 shinned hawks, owing to the fact that these reserves will 

 not only contain a larger number of the animals and their 

 young which predatory animals destroy, but as the reserves 

 afford sanctuary to such animals they will tend to contain 

 a much greater abundance of wild hfe than neighbouring 

 territory. Following the general rule in nature that pred- 

 atory species collect where the species on which they sub- 

 sist occur in unusual abundance, an increase in game and 

 other animals will bring about an increase in their enemies, 

 especially when the latter are harassed elsewhere. 



Wolves. — The large gray or timber wolves, varying in 

 colour from white to black, which range from Quebec to 



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