St. Paul daily globe., 1888-03-23
SCARCITY OF WILD ANIMALS.
Geological Gardens Will Undoubt-
edly Soon Be Things of the Past

Geological Gardens Will UndOubt.
edly Soon Be Things of the Past.
"The time is approaching when ZOO
logical gardens and wild beast shows
will be numbered with the institutions
that have been, but are no more," re-
marked Supt. Arthur E. Brown, out at
the Zoo yesterday. He added: "The
school boy three or four generations
hence, wanting to know so much of
natural history as relates to the struc-
ture, habits and peculiaritieS of most of
the wild beasts of the forest, will be
compelled to learn it from books, for
living animals and specimens will be
found only in the Businesses of the dis
tant wildS. The causes of this will be
twOfOld. First, the animals being grad
ually and surely killed or driven into
smaller territory through the spread of
civilized and semi-civiliZed man, are
necessarily driven into country inacces-
Sible to man in some cases, and in others
they are becoming extinct. In the sec
ond place, they will die out in caDtivity.
In our country less than twenty years
ago the buffalo rOame6 in herds. Pas
Sengers seated in luXuriously finished
railroad coaches leveled their rifles
from the windows and shot the noble
animals for the fun of the thing at their
tically extinct. We have a fine herd
here, but in time they, too, will die out.
However finely some of the captive
born animals may appear for time to
thrive, ,unleSsithey are reinforced by some
of the original wild stock, the dwindle
down in time, and have no doubt will
eventually die out"
What is true of the buffalo in North
America is in great measure the fact
of the antelope, the elk. the white
tailed deer, the gray wolf, the bear lex
cept the grizzly, and many others.
Beavers, prairie dogs, foxes and others
of the smaller animals are becoming
scarce. The prairie dogs have been
killed by millions, because they destroy
the farms, and therefore they must go.
The superintendent related an instance
that came under !his own observa-
tiOn last fall, in which two beavers
were caught in steel traps placed deep
under water on a low-prOtected terri
tOry,in which the female had previously
lost her two fore paws, and the male had
lost one of his, showing that they had
been trapped before and got away, the
female twice and the male once. The
wild beasts of Africa were formerly
numerous, but they are becoming scarce.
A few years ago there were two ports in
Africa where they could be purchased,
one in the East and one In the West, on
the SOmali coast, but the changed pOlit-
ical conditions of the countries in the
upper Nile region now prevent their
purchase in the East.
In Asia the elephants, owing to their
slaughter by the ivory hunters, have al
most died out, and now laws are ell
forced in the countries which they in
habit which prevent their further de-
structiOn. The advance of man has
driven the lions, tigers, leOpards and
other ferOciOus beasts into the jungles
which man cannot enter.
Mr.. Brown, in illustration of the sub
ject, said that less than five years ago
he could have bought giraffes and
cameleOpards for $1,000 head. To-day
there are but few on sale, and the price
is $4,000. About the time of the centen-
nial in 1876 six giratfes were bought and
since died, although carefully handled.
Two polar bears died last summer and
fall there.
The oldest and largest Zoo in the
world is that in London. OF the various
species of animals there only about one
third breed at all in captivity. The two
baby elephants which belonged to Bar
mum are the only two on record that
have been born in captivity in 1000
years. Antwerp's Zoo during the past
few years has been the most successful
in breeding and raising animals.
What is true of quadrupeds is stated
to be the fact with most wild birds, more
particular ly sea birds, which are becOm-
ing comparatively scarce to what they
were at one time.