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OCT OF {?6AC« — B<^T 



The Real Threat to Wildlife 



Man rarely sets out deliberately to exterminate a wild species. Some, 

 like the coyote and crow, that settlers marked for extermination, still 

 thrive in spite of massive trapping and poisoning campaigns. But most of 

 man's adverse influences on wildlife have been unintentional and inad- 

 vertent. 



Man, his works, and his livestock compete with wild animals for food 

 and space. Actually, the effects of habitat destruction are worse than 

 direct killing, because unoccupied wildlife habitat can and, in time, 

 usually will be reoccupied. Habitat that is drastically altered or de- 

 stroyed can never support its original wild populations. 



Housing developments, highways and airports, hydroelectric and ir- 

 rigation reservoirs, factories, and mines contribute to the American 

 standard of Uving. But each new residential or industrial expansion 

 reduces the habitat base upon which many wildlife populations depend. 



Even some practices associated with farming and forestry can ad- 

 versely affect wild populations. Large mechanized farms devoted to 

 single crops, like wheat, and extensive, closely planted pine plantations 



