XXXV. WILD BEASTS' SKINS IN 

 COMMERCE 



THE last few years have seen a marked disappearance 

 from the leather industry of a form of supply which 

 should never have reached the dimensions it attained 

 the hides of countless wild beasts. No one grudges to 

 the purposes of trade the hides of the alligator or the 

 shark, still less those of domesticated animals or of big 

 game killed for food. But for more than twenty years 

 there have come to the markets of America and Europe 

 hundreds of thousands of hides, destined for the 

 commonest commercial uses, stripped from wild 

 animals which have been killed for the value of the 

 hide alone. Whole species have been butchered to the 

 last individual to make shoe-leather. To say which 

 country has been the greatest offender would be 

 difficult. There is not much room for distinction 

 between the * skin-hunters ' of North America, South 

 Africa, or Australia. But in the former country at 



least, the State Governments are adopting vigorous 



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