136 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Later, if thought desirable, steps might be taken to secure a herd 

 from Siberia, as the Tunguse variety is apparently so superior to all 

 other reindeer, but it would seem that the first step should be along the 

 lines followed in Alaska. 



The tourist and recreational values of game are other 



Xf-l",*,**/, considerations in which the Parks Branch is particu- 



Wild Life ... . . . r- . , f. , • 



larly mterested. As to the first, tourists delight in 



observing the wild animals runrang free in the Parks and this attrac- 

 tion is worth almost as much to the country as is the scenery ; in fact, 

 the wild life in our national parks has to-day become a part of the 

 scenery, so numerous and tame have the wild creatures become. As 

 to the second, the first necessity in Canada, to-day, is the conservation 

 of human efficiency. More than ever after this war we must look 

 forward to building up and maintaining a virile, hardy and intrepid 

 race, and to do this we must not get too far away from primitive 

 conditions of life. The instinct of the hunter is one of the oldest and 

 deepest of the race ; there is, for the ordinary man, no stronger lure to 

 the out-of-doors than this. In Canada, it will be possible, for a time, 

 to satisfy this instinct without great trouble. But the time will 

 inevitably come, as it has already come to a great part of the United 

 States, when there will be no game for the poor man to shoot. In 

 that country, sportsmen, despairing of assistance from the Federal 

 Government in the protection of game, are planning for a system of 

 private preserves where wealthy individuals will be able to enjoy 

 hunting. This is but a return to the methods of the older countries 

 where the game is reserved for the enjoyment of the few. If large 

 areas of the barren rocky tracts in northern Ontario and Quebec and 

 in the Northwest were set apart and placed under the same sort of 

 protection as is afforded in a private preserve, it would be possible, 

 not only to secure a large revenue by the imposition of a small license 

 fee and from the disposal of pelts from fur-bearing animals, but pro- 

 vision would also be made for meeting a natural recreational demand, 

 a demand which should be provided because it tends to make happier 

 and healthier and, therefore, better citizens of our people. 



Prop. Prince: What is the experience in regard to the preserva- 

 tion of bears ? I have always maintained that the black bear of Canada 

 is not destructive. On investigating a case of alleged destruction of 

 sheep by a bear in Gaspe, it was found that the culprit was a man, 

 who had spread the fragments around to hide his crime, so that the 

 bears were looked on as the offenders. 



