334 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



The trapping of otter in this State is now prohibited until 1906. This close 

 season should be extended for a further period of ten years at least if the otter is 

 to regain its former abundance. 



This animal is so keen in avoiding traps that the difficulties of capturing it 

 would be much greater were it not for its habit of building slides. These slides 

 are used simply for amusement, but a trap placed at the end of one of them has 

 been the undoing of many a playful otter. 



In the twenty-five years preceding 1878, 318,140 otter skins were sold in 

 London by the Hudson Bay Company. 



Most of the animals described above could and should be restored to their 

 native haunts in the Adirondacks. If alive, and brightening the somber North 

 Woods with their presence, they would be worth far more to the State than the 

 mere value of their skins. 



The time is rapidly approaching in this country when game refuges will be 

 recognized as the only means of protecting our American fauna. Some section 

 of the Adirondacks embracing forest, stream and lake should be set aside for a 

 breeding ground for all the native animals, where they should be left absolutely 

 undisturbed, and no one allowed to set a trap, light a fire or enter with a gun 

 or dog; and above all, no foreign species should be introduced. 



A few years after the establishment of such a sanctuary in the Adirondacks 

 the excess of animal population would supply the adjoining country, and the 

 interest and value of the wilderness would be greatly enhanced. It is only a 

 question of time when something of this sort will be done in the North Woods, 

 and the privilege of carrying a gun at all times and slaughtering everything in 

 sight will be abridged. When that day comes, the old order of things in America 

 will have passed and the conditions which have long prevailed in portions of 

 Europe will spread over the country. 



The writer desires to acknowledge the skill and patience shown by Mr. Elwin R. Sanborn in 

 photographing the animals of the New York Zoological Park. 



