4 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



hunter's life more enjoyable, and as a resiilt, the uttermost sanc- 

 tuaries of the fur-bearers are invaded. Their last retreats have been 

 made and they must now slowly diminish in numbers year by year. 

 The musk-ox, for instance, has figured in the London sales only for the 

 past forty years because, prior to that time, Arctic hunters were unable 

 to reach its habitat. Continued invasion of its territory may lead to 

 its extinction. The usual method employed to prevent the complete 

 extinction of a species is to establish a close season. Recently, a close 

 season of three years was declared for the Russian sable to allow it to 

 recuperate in numbers in Siberia. The chinchilla has similar protection 

 in Bolivia, and the Canadian beaver is frequently protected in a similar 

 way. Perhaps the most concerted effort on the part of nations to 

 prevent the extinction of a species by establishing a close season is to 

 be found in the case of the Alaska fur-seal. In July, 1911, the United 

 States, Great Britain, Russia and Japan entered into a treaty which 

 provides for the prohibition of pelagic or open sea sealing for a period 

 of fifteen years. In the same year the United States enacted a pro- 

 vision prohibiting land-killing of seals on the PribUof islands for a period 

 of ten years. The general decrease in the number of fur-bearers during 

 the past twenty years indicates how ineffectual are the preventive 

 methods employed. 



The ever-expanding areas of human settlements have 

 of Haunts caused some kinds of fur-bearers to retreat farther into 



the woods. The clearing away of the forests and the 

 grazing of the natural covers by domestic animals have destroyed their 

 haunts and exposed them to their enemies. Draining swampy areas has 

 destroyed the homes of the muskrat or musquash, the mink, the otter 

 and the beaver. The fisher and the marten never seem to exist long 

 near man's habitation. Even the fox, which appears to increase near 

 human settlements, will decrease if the forests are wholly removed or 

 burned. 



