4o 



RECREATION. 



From this report it will be seen thai 

 Captain Oscar J. Brown, Acting Superin- 

 tendent of the Park, is taking such steps as 

 in his judgment the circumstances war- 

 rant toward protecting the game in the 

 reservation. 



In this connection, it is proper to add 

 that a number of bear and other animals 

 have been trapped in the park and shipped 

 to the Zoological Park in this city, and the 

 same course will be pursued as to furnish- 

 ing animals for the Zoological Gardens in 

 Omaha, Nebraska. 



Very respectfully, 



E. A. Hitchcock, 



Secretary. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Biological Survey, 



Washington, D. C, 



January 26th, 1900. 

 Hon. E. A. Hitchcock, 



Secretary of the Interior. 

 Sir:— 



Will you kindly have sent to my address 

 copies of the annual report of the superin- 

 tendent of the Yellowstone National Park 

 for the years 1890-99 inclusive? 



I am informed that you have been re- 

 quested to authorize the killing of "a large 

 number of bears, lynx, mountain lions and 

 wolves in the Yellowstone National Park." 

 This, it seems to me, would be a serious 

 mistake. There is, of course, no danger 

 in killing all the wolves that it is practica- 

 ble to destroy, if the persons authorized 

 to do the killing can be made to confine 

 their attention to these animals, which are 

 notoriously destructive to big game. But 

 in the case of the other species mentioned, 

 namely the bears, lynx and mountain 

 lions, it would be exceedingly difficult, I 

 think, to obtain trustworthy evidence to 

 the effect that these animals really cut any 

 figure in the destruction of big game in the 

 Park. The mountain lion, or panther, is 

 well known to feed largely on deer, and 

 sometimes doubtless kills an elk, particu- 

 larly the young. But deer and elk exist 

 in the park in such vast numbers that the 

 inroads made on them by the few moun- 

 tain lions inhabiting the region are too in- 

 significant to merit attention. 



Black bears are very abundant in the 

 park, as you know, and may be so much 

 of a nuisance that it is desirable to reduce 

 their numbers. But this should not be 

 clone under the pretext that they are a 

 menace to the frame. 



The c^e of the grizzly bear is very dif- 

 ferent. The Yellowstone National Park is 

 now the only place in the world where a 

 nerson may go with the assurance of see- 

 ing a h've grizzly, and. if I am correctlv 

 informed, the number of grizzlies there is 

 hv no means large. The grizzly is one of 

 the distinctive American mammals rapidly 



approaching extinction, and it has beett 

 already exterminated over fully nine-tenths 

 of its range. It would be a calamity, 

 therefore, for the United States Govern- 

 ment to in any way hasten the extinction 

 of the species. 



I have the honor to remain, 

 Respectfully, 



C. Hart Merriam, 

 Chief, Biological Survey. 



Department of the Interior, 



Washington, D. C, 

 February 2d, 1900. 

 Respectfully referred to the Acting 

 Superintendent of the Yellowstone Na- 

 tional Park for consideration in connection 

 with the reference on the same subject for- 

 warded to him under date of January 20th, 

 1900. This paper should be returned to 

 the Department. 



(Signed) E. A. Hitchcock, 



Secretary. 

 E. M. D. 



(2d Endorsement.) 

 office of the superintendent, 

 Yellowstone National Park, 

 Mammoth Hot Springs, Wy., 

 February 9th, 1900. 



Respectfully returned to the Honorable 

 the Secretary of the Interior. 



The destruction of game is confined 

 mainly to deer, elk, antelope and sheep, 

 and these depredations are mostly the 

 work of coyotes. The mountain lions, of 

 which there are still large numbers in the 

 park, do much damage, and if this was only 

 among the deer and elk it would amount 

 to little, as the elk undoubtedly are in- 

 creasing and the deer, if not increasing, 

 are not diminishing; but it is known that 

 these lions kill mountain sheep, an ani- 

 mal which is becoming rare and which 

 must be protected to prevent complete 

 extinction. To do this requires that the 

 mountain lions in the vicinity of where 

 these sheep range should be kept down as 

 much as possible. There is a small band 

 of mountain sheep on Mount Everts, with- 

 in 3 miles of this post, numbering about 

 26, and another band about 12 miles North- 

 east from the post, near Hellroaring 

 creek. It is not known if there are any 

 others in the park. 



In these 2 localities there are many 

 mountain lions. It was found necessary, 

 both last winter and this, to shoot these 

 lions whenever found, to save the sheep. 

 There is no danger of their being exter- 

 minated, as they range throughout the 

 park and are extremely difficult to find. 

 Coyotes are numerous and are killed at 

 every opoortunity. No indiscriminate kill- 

 ing of these or anv other animals is al- 

 lowed; the destruction is confined to coy- 

 otes and mountain lions and is done by the 



