GAME LAWS AND PROTECTION OF WILD ANIMALS 



birds. Wild pigs, too, must be prevented from rooting' 

 up the fruits of the fields, especially at night. 



Besides, there are many rodents and lemurs and even 

 small antelopes against which the native and European 

 settler has to defend his plantations. 



The other animals shun the habitations of man and 

 live in the wide steppe where they do no harm. Rhi- 

 noceroses, in particular, avoid inhabited districts. The 

 same can be said of the species of large antelopes and of 

 giraffes. Yet Prince Loewenstein and I have often 

 been obliged to refute the assertion that giraffes injure 

 the trees by despoiling them of their leaves. 



To destroy the fauna of Africa — with the exception 

 of very few animals — is by no means justified; most 

 animals do not injure .the agricultural development of 

 the settled districts. 



The insects and small animals do much more damage 

 than all the big animals combined. The greatest ene- 

 mies of the coffee plantations, for instance, are the 

 small insects. 



It has been claimed that the killing of some of the 

 larger animals is justified because the ticks which live 

 on them spread infectious diseases. Such diseases are, 

 to my knowledge, still prevalent in South Africa, where 

 the big game has been exterminated long ago. 



The large beasts of prey, as far as they live in the 

 neighborhood of settlements, are unquestionably a dan- 

 ger to human life and as such ought to be destroyed, 

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