8 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
PRESIDENT OBREGON PROTECTS BIG 
GAME OF MEXICO 
By William T. Hornaday. 
O N October 1, 1922, President Alvaro 
Obregon issued two presidential procla¬ 
mations which decreed a ten-year absolute 
close season for the mountain sheep and prong¬ 
horned antelope of the Republic of Mexico. It 
was held that the danger of the extinction of 
those species was so great that it would not do 
to wait for the next session of the Mexican 
Congress one year hence. 
President Obregon was everlastingly right. 
A grave emergency did exist. It is to be feared 
that the Mexican mountain sheep (Onis mex- 
icana ) of the mountains of northern Chihuahua 
already are extinct, and we know that the 
dwarf big-horn of the Pinacate Mountains of 
northwestern Sonora are totally gone. The 
last American sportsman who visited that region 
for sheep-hunting, Mr. C. A. Gianini, of Po¬ 
land, New York, reports that a most thorough 
search of the entire Pinacate region in October, 
1921, revealed not even one sheep, nor even a 
fresh sign of sheep. 
In 1907, the stock of sheep in the Pinacate 
lava mountains was found to be abundant. 
Since that fatal discovery, a great many parties 
of American sportsmen have gone there to kill 
sheep, and one party slaughtered sixteen speci¬ 
mens, females as well as males. We have known 
that the flocks were rapidly diminishing, but 
until now the disturbed state of Mexico ren¬ 
dered it impossible to do anything to secure 
their safety. 
On the Lower California Peninsula a third 
species of sheep (Ovis cremnohates ) has been 
more widely scattered, and therefore less sub¬ 
ject to total extinction. 
The hold of the prong-horned antelope in 
Mexico always has been precarious. Like the 
mountain sheep, the antelope of the United 
States wandered southward across deserts into 
Mexico, but finally reached a stopping-place. 
Like the sheep, they have held on in spite of 
heat, thirst, coyotes and the absence of good 
food, in a way nothing short of wonderful. The 
tenacity and endurance of the mountain sheep 
and antelope of Mexico form a striking object 
lesson in the survival of pioneer species under 
rigorous conditions. 
Unfortunately, however, the long-range high 
powered rifles of American sportsmen and 
Mexican meat hunters were too much for the 
sheep and antelopes. Our own men have, so I 
believe, done much towards their extinction, but 
the native hunters have done more. It is in¬ 
deed high time for some one to put on the lid, 
and clamp it down. 
The penalties provided with President Obre- 
gon’s decrees have every appearance of deter¬ 
mined protection. The fines range from $50 
to $500, or fifteen days imprisonment, and for 
second offenders the penalties are doubled. 
President Obregon is not a man who will per¬ 
mit his decree to be flouted or ignored, or to 
become a dead letter. All Americans will do 
well to believe that the prohibition will be 
enforced. To prevent accidents, the news was 
wired to Nogales, Tucson, A jo, Calexico and 
San Diego. 
But the above is not all. 
On October 19, President Obregon issued a 
third decree forbidding any further exploita¬ 
tion of the forests and wild animal life of the 
Island of Guadalupe by private individuals, 
and specifically reserving all the natural re¬ 
sources of that island and the territorial waters 
surrounding it to the government of Mexico. 
The decree further orders the appointment of 
such protective agencies as may be necessary. 
The most important effect of this decree is 
its prohibition of all further commercial slaugh¬ 
ter of the elephant seals now inhabiting the 
shores of that island and numbering at this 
time about one thousand individuals. At one 
time it was greatly feared that the oil hunters 
would exterminate the species before its protec¬ 
tion could be secured. 
This grand coup in big game protection, the 
most sweeping and dramatic occurrence since 
the signing of our migratory bird treaty, was 
due to the initiative of a distinguished Mexican 
zoologist, Professor A. L. Herrera, Director of 
the Biological Studies of Mexico. Last August, 
Professor Herrera spent a week at the New 
York Zoological Park, studying that institution 
and American methods and results in wild life 
protection. On departing he declared his in¬ 
tention to do all possible towards securing a 
long close season for the sheep and antelope of 
Mexico and the elephant seals of Guadalupe 
Island. 
We understand that two or three other Mexi¬ 
can scientists who during the past summer were 
engaged in scientific work on the west coast of 
Lower California, contributed important ser¬ 
vices to the elephant seals of Guadalupe Island. 
The names most prominently mentioned in this 
connection are Professor Carlos Cuesta Terron, 
Professor Jose M. Gallegos and Sr. Enrique 
