Game Preservation in Dominion Parks 



BY 



F. H. H. WlI^UAMSON 



Dominion Parks Branch, Dept. of the Interior , 



THE Dominion parks in Canada, which are maintained as wild-life 

 sanctuaries, include an area of 7,927 square miles — upwards of 

 5,000,000 acres — nearly equal to one-half the total area of Switzerland, 

 almost as large as Belgium and nearly one thousand square miles 

 greater than the area of Wales. Jasper park alone, which includes 

 4,400 square miles, is larger than Montenegro and almost twice the 

 size of Prince Edward Island. Within this great area no trap may 

 be set, no gun may be fired; within these boundaries all wild animals 

 live as free from danger as they did before the advent of man. The 

 fenced enclosures, Buffalo and Elk Island parks, respectively, situated 

 at Wainwright and at Lament, Alta., comprise 176 square miles. 



BuSal A Buffalo park was created to contain the Government 

 Elk Island herd of buffalo, secured in 1907 and 1909, from Michel 



Parks Vion Pablo, of Montana. In six years, this herd — 



which at the time of purchase was the largest herd on this continent — 

 has increased from 709 to over 2,000 head. Elk Island park, a small 

 reservation, 16 square miles in extent, contains 50 elk, for the protec- 

 tion of which it was originally established, but it now contains, in addi- 

 tion, about 100 buffalo, 40 moose and 80 mule deer. In these two 

 parks protection consists chiefly in vigilant effort to protect the ani- 

 mals from disease and enemies, and to maintain the type at a high 

 standard. The danger from prairie fires is also one which has to be 

 constantly guarded against. Both parks are protected by double strips 

 of ploughed guard, one inside and one outside the park fence, which 

 are ploughed once each season or, if the season is very dry, twice. As 

 the perimeter of Buffalo park is about 76 miles, its fire guards neces- 

 sitate several hundred miles of ploughing. 



Guarding Those changed with the care of the animals 



against have to be continually on the alert to avoid 



Disease ^hg possibility of an outbreak of disease. When 



the epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease broke out about a 



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