332 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



sale of game has been carried on not by the sportsmen but 

 by the pot-hunters, dealers, and those who profit by such 

 commerce. But the game resources of the country are for 

 the use and enjoyment of all and not for the small per- 

 centage by whom the sale of game is demanded. 



There should be no wavering in this matter, nor catering 

 to the interests of a few objectors who are imable to appre- 

 ciate the wider significance of this aspect of game protection. 

 Our wild life is not sufficiently abundant to withstand the 

 toll of the market hunter. Is it preferable to have our 

 wild life in its natural haunts for the benefit of the nature- 

 lover and sportsman, or in the butchers' and game dealers' 

 shops to gratify, in the majority of cases, the tastes of those 

 to whom wild-life protection has no meaning or interest? 



In the United States the disastrous results of the policy 

 of permitting the sale of game have been so obvious that, 

 with the disappearance of the greater portion of the fur and 

 feathered game, it has been practically a question of decid- 

 ing whether the remainder should be killed and sold for 

 food, or protected for legitimate sport. Consequently, no 

 less than thirty-four States, including the best of the game 

 States, prohibit the sale of protected game, and it is safe to 

 predict that the few States which still permit, in a more or 

 less modified way, the sale of certain classes of game, will 

 follow the example of the majority within a few years. 



In Canada there is a gradual and strong increase in opinion 

 against the sale of game. It is realized that, in the more 

 settled parts of Canada, there is no excuse for the sale of 

 game. Already the sale of protected game is entirely pro- 

 hibited in the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. 

 In British Columbia the sale of game is prohibited, with the 

 exception of moose, which may be sold during part of the 

 open season in the northern districts of Atlin, Prince George, 

 Omineca, and Cariboo, and bear, which may be sold 

 throughout the province. In Nova Scotia moose is the 



