196 



FUR BEAItING ANIMALS, 



Your Commissioners find that the Beaver, Otter, and Fisher are growing very 

 scarce in Ontario, and unanimously recommend that they be strictly protected 

 for tive years, during which none of these animals should be allowed to be taken 

 or killed. 



Your Commissioners are of opinion that the present trapping season should 

 be shortened, one month, so as to end on olst March instead of 30th April. The 

 present season is too long, and interferes with the breeding season. 



WOLVES. 



Your Commissioners find that much harm is done to the Deer and larger 

 game animals of the Province, by Wolves. , 



The trappers and hunters assert that the Wolf is an animal which can only 

 be taken with great difficulty, and the bounty at present paid, is altogether too 

 small, to induce them to follow the animal. 



Your Commissioners recommend that the bounty be raised from S6 to $12 r 

 and that the same arrangements be made for the payment of the bounty in un- 

 organized districts. 



No bounty is paid for the destruction or Wolves, except in organized dis- 

 tricts or within one mile of settlements. Those who live in unorganized dis- 

 tricts, suffer much from the depredation of the Wolf, but the authorities are too 

 poor to pay a bounty, and consequently, no effort i \ made to kill the destroyer, 



FOXES AND OTllER VERMIN. 



Your Commissioners recommend that $1 bounty be paid for each Fox 

 destroyed, as this animal is a great destroyer of young game. 



Your Commissioners are of opinion that all vermin not specified and pro- 

 tected by the game laws should be killed at si^ht. 



ON GENERAL QUESTIONS. 



Your Commissioners find that the close seasons for Game and Fish are not 

 generally respected throughout the Province, the laws being broken by all classes- 

 of the community, principally, however, by settlers, Indians, boys, and pot- 

 hunters. 



Your Commissioners unanimously recommend that a Provincial force of 

 Game and Fish Wardens or Protectors should be established. 



Your Commissioners recommend that the Sub-Wardens should be permanent 

 residents of the localities under their supervision, because they are intimately 

 acquainted with the game districts and the residents of the neighbourhood, and 

 would naturally hear more of what was going on than a stranger could possibly do. 



Your Commissioners recommend that the Sub-Wardens should be appointed 

 by the Chief Warden, who in turn should be appointed by the Game and Fish 

 Commissioners and might or might not be residentsof the localities where they are 

 stationed. 



