Animals classed as game under state and federal laws may be hunted, 

 but they are not without protection. They may be taken by hunters only 

 under regulations that prescribe calendar dates, hunting hours, bag 

 limits, and methods of taking. Under certain circumstances, hunting 

 seasons for some game species may be closed completely. All game 

 species are protected by law while they are nesting and raising their 

 young. These regulations, based on careful research, are designed to 

 assure the carry-over to the next breeding season of enough animals to 

 repopulate the available habitat. 



MEARl-Y ALL BIRO^AflO 

 DEfcftee OF i.e6A^ 



pROTECTlCl^r 



There are situations under which it may be necessary to reduce 

 temporarily the population of one species to benefit another. Although 

 gulls are protected by state and federal laws, legal protection of herring 

 gulls nesting on islands off the Massachusetts coast was suspended for a 

 while to permit the poisoning of some birds and destroying the eggs of 

 others. The reason — the breeding gull population had mushroomed 

 because of the presence of nearby mainland garbage dumps, and the 

 abundant gulls were eating the eggs and young of the much rarer terns 

 that formerly had the islands nearly to themselves. 



In order to reestablish a species in suitable unoccupied habitat, it may 

 be necessary to temporarily reduce the numbers of predators in the area 

 until the released animals multiply and become familiar with their new 

 surroundings. After prey species increase above the threshold level, 

 predators are just one of the many factors bearing on the population's 

 survival. 



Predation is not all bad, in fact. By falling victim to a fox or an owl, 

 for example, the prey helps perpetuate a higher and equally valued order 

 of life. 



8 



