598 HOW DOES MAN CONSERVE HIS RESOURCES? 



National bison range in Montana. 



Bureau of Biol. Survey 



PROBLEM V. WHAT IS BEING DONE FOR THE 

 CONSERVATION OF MAMMALS? 



Conservation of mammals. It was not so many years ago that 

 the people of this country thought the vast herds of buffalo that 

 covered the western plains were inexhaustible ; but ten years 

 of extensive killing nearly exterminated them. Today a few thou- 

 sand exist, protected by law. Without doubt, the species would 

 have died out had it not been for the fact that they breed in cap- 

 tivity. The same story may be told of the Alaskan fur seal, almost 

 exterminated a few years ago by overhunting, but now protected 

 by law. One of the two great herds of Alaskan seals, the Pribilof 

 (so called because they went to the Pribilof Islands to breed), was 

 reduced from several million to less than 215,000 animals in 1910 

 by overhunting. Today, through governmental control of fishing 

 and protection during the breeding season, the herd consists of 

 nearly 600,000 seals. As time goes on and the furs of wild animals 

 become scarcer through overkilling, we find more imperative the 

 need for protection and conservation of many of these wild forms. 



Already, breeding of some fur-bearing animals in captivity has 

 been tried with success, and substitutes for wild animal skins are 

 coming more and more into the markets. Black- and silver-fox 

 raising has been tried successfully in many parts of this country 



