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FOREST AND STREAM 
( 
CONSERVATION 
A GAME PARADISE 
THAT IS WHAT PENNSYLVANIA WAS IN 
THE EARLY DAYS AND MAY BE AGAIN 
By Henry W. Shoemaker, 
P ENNSYLVANIA, at the time of the 
arrival of the first white settlers, was 
what might be termed a veritable 
hunters’ paradise. Game in central and 
south-central Africa was not more numer¬ 
ous or diversified. William Penn was par¬ 
ticularly impressed by the animal wealth of 
the province. He foresaw a cheap food 
supply from the game animals and birds, 
as well as fishes. Many of his letters to 
England were filled with accounts of the 
wild game and fur-bearing animals. 
At that time all kinds of animals existed 
side by side, and in what might be termed 
perfect harmony. True enough, the In¬ 
dians hunted considerably, but they never 
killed more than they absolutely needed, 
and were careful to keep alive a healthy 
breeding stock of all species. They never 
killed for sport or for the wanton love of 
killing, so characteristic of the white set¬ 
tlers in all new countries. 
Nature, in producing all the creatures of 
land and water that existed in Pennsyl¬ 
vania, was careful to maintain a perfect 
balance whereby all might live and thrive. 
Wild animals were intended to be wild 
animals in the full meaning of the word. 
Charles John Andersson, in his wonderful 
book of African adventures called “The 
Lion and the Elephant,” mentions the fact 
Author of ‘‘Wolf Days in Pennsylvania,’ “Deer 
that without lions and similar brutes, the 
hoofed mammals of the African grass 
plains would die of inanition. The lions, 
by constantly preying upon them, kept 
them in motion—game animals in every 
respect. In India the natives regard the 
tigers as their best friends, as they prey 
on the wild hogs which destroy the crops 
of the Hindoos. Portuguese East Africa, 
after lions were exterminated, was visited 
by a scourge of the rinderpest, which wiped 
out thousands of the hoofed game. ( 
In Pennsylvania, the mis-called preda¬ 
tory animals were created by wise Provi¬ 
dence to keep the game animal in motion, 
and also to prey on sickly and imperfect 
specimens, thereby preventing pestilence 
and deterioration. These predatory ani¬ 
mals which were wantonly destroyed by 
our first settlers were the most interesting 
of all the forms of wild life of Pennsyl¬ 
vania. First and noblest of these creatures 
was the panther, or Pennsylvania lion. 
The largest Pennsylvania panthers meas¬ 
ured over eleven feet from tip to tip, or 
as large as the biggest African lions. The 
first settlers called the young or half-grown 
panthers “wildcats,” as with their long 
tails they closely resembled overgrown 
house-cats, and it took them some time to 
realize that they were merely the youth- 
and Their Horns," etc., etc. 
ful offspring of the formidable lion of 
Pennsylvania. The true wildcat was called 
the “bobcat,” because of its short tail; and 
the Canada lynx, yvhich was never very 
numerous in Pennsylvania, was called the 
catamount. Perhaps the most impressive 
trait of the Pennsylvania lion was the roar 
or cry, which struck terror to the hearts of 
the pioneers. The panthers preyed on 
weak and sickly deer, aged elk and moose, 
and also on roots, herbs and berries. There 
is no well-authenticated instance of its' hav¬ 
ing attacked a human being, though it often 
followed men, women or children, especial¬ 
ly at nightfall, uttering mournful cries. A 
nest of young panthers was found in 
Treaster Valley, Mifflin County, by Cle¬ 
ment Herlacher in 1893. 
N EXT in importance to the panther 
came the wolf, of which three varie¬ 
ties existed in Pennsylvania. The 
grey or timber wolves were found in the 
northern tier of counties and along the 
Maryland line. In the Seven Mountains 
and along the Juniata the black wolf 
abounded. It was a handsome animal, gen¬ 
erally coal black, and though not as large 
as the grey wolf, possessed more wit or 
sagacity. It was the last wolf to leave 
Pennsylvania, a few having been observed 
V 
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