Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-10-19
WILD BEASTS OF INDIA.
THEIR SLAUGHTER STIMULATED BY
GOVERNMENT BOUNTlES.

GOVERNMENT BouNTIEs.
Pecuniary Rewards for the Destruction of
Beasts of Prey and Venomous Snakes.
Protection Needed for Wild Elephants.
India's Game Birds-Statistics.
1t is interesting to observe that the spread
of western civilization in India is having
the effect of making necessary legal measures
for the protection of wild birds and game,
and at the same time is bringing about the
gradual determination of the wild beasts and
poisonous snakes with which that country
has always been infested. As the extent of
the land under cultivation has increased,
beasts of prey have of course been de-
stroyed OF driven off by the clearing of for
ests and the incoming of man, and innocent
herds of deer and antelope have gone with
them. The government has also stimulated
the slaughter of noxious animals by giving
pecuniary rewards for their destruction, in
consequence of which bounties %, 4l7 wild
beasts and All 500 venomous snakes are Off
cially returned as having been destroyed in
1886 Meantime English sportsmen are
keeping up the pursuit of wild animals, in
which they have been assiduously engaged
for a century past.
From every direction, therefore, the beasts
of prey are attacked by man and civilization,
80 that their practical determination has be-
como question of time only, though plainly
it mus be a long time, whereas under the old
Hindoo and Mohammedan dynasties they en-
joyed comparative immunity. So far as we
know, no rewards were offered then for their
destruction, and they were hunted merely to
obtain living wild animals for the menageries
of the native potentates, who delighted in the
fights of wild beasts.
But in this wholesale destruction, wild
birds and game desirable to preserve are in
cluded, SO that in 1879 law for the protec-
ton of wild elephants especially was enacted,
and last year Lord Dufferin and his legisla.
tive council promulgated a new game law OF
more general application. The wantor
slaughter of wild elephants had been carried
to such an extent that it seemed as if the
sspecies might become extinct in India, as tbs
buffalo is becoming in this country. There
had also been a great increase in the NOR
tality among tame elephants employed for
military purposes, particularly during the
protracted campaigns of the mutiny of 1857,
the elephant, despite his huge strength, be-
ing of delicate constitution, and requiring
more care than he could receive in such cam
paigning. The consequence was that the
price of elephants more than doubled and as
tame elephants do not breed in captivity the
only source of further supply lay in the cap
ture of the wild animals
Therefore in 1879 a law was passed to pro-
tect the wild elephants from being hunted
for the sake of their ivory and to require
1.-The professional hunters of elephants to take
out a license, under which the government
has the first choice of all newly captured an
imals for its military purposes. The law of
Lord Dufferin, enacted last year, bears a
general likeness to our own game laws, pro-
vides for close OF breeding season, and pro-
tects many insectivorous birds as valuable
allies of the farmer, and also the pea fowl,
which is regarded as a sacred bird in many
parts of India.
1t seems that almost every game bird that
had its breeding place in India was pursued
during the whole twelve months of the year,
the migratory birds, of course, faring better,
because they escaped for season from the
nets and traps and guns of their human
enemies The commissioner of Sindh re-
ported, for example, that $4,000 black par
tridges were destroyed, in the course of
few days, to supply the European demand
for their skins, and, as cheap guns have now
got into the hands of the native bird slayers,
the slaughter was enormous and continuous
among all varieties valuable for their plum
age. Sportsmen also complained of the
scarcity of game birds, and measures for
their preservation adopted in the west had
to be applied to the east also, SO that they
might be left at peace in their breeding sea-
son.
The protection was also extended by Lord
Dutferln'S law to all animals of game not
noxious in order that the deer and antelope
might not be driven out OF destroyed. But
of course this feature has to be carefully
guarded that beasts of prey may not be in
cluded, for even now the loss of human life
because of these fierce animals is very great
annually, as the table of 1886 shows q total
of 2,707 persons killed by wild elephants,
tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, hyenas and
other animals. The number of animals
killed in 1886 by natives under the stimulus
of the bounties offered was 2,407 Except
so far as the tigers were concerned, man had
vast advantage in the slaughter But the
tigers lost only ], AGA, while they killed 92S
In some of the provinces the tigers were far
ahead. In lower Bengal, for example, $50
persons We're killed by tigers, but only PAS
tigers were killed. Among the ''other ami
mails mentioned in the tables the jackal is
the chief, and their victims are doubtless
many more than are officially returned The
list of these unspecifed animals includes, be-
sides, wild boars, bisons and crocodiles.
There were also So, OPS cattle killed by wild
beasts in 1885, tigers destroying %, 76o and
1eopards 22, 275. The number Of human be-
ings killed by snakes was returned as &c. 1874
and of cattle as 2,514.
The serpent is accordingly the most deadly
enemy of man in India, nearly ten times as
many perishing by his bite as are killed by
wild beasts. In the province Of Bengal alone
more than 10000 persons died of snake bites,
and the snakes on their part suffered loss
of Ali, $780, for which bounties were paid. But
rewards for killing snakes are not offered in
all the provinces, the experience Of the gov
ernor of Bengal some years ago having
shown that in consequence of such rewards
almost the whole community went into
snake hunting as a regular business, and the
magistrates complained that they could not
carry on their ordinary duty because of the |
stencil of the putrid bodies brought to them |
The figures We have given show that the |
work of exterminating the beasts of prey
and the poisonous snakes of India must yet |
be continued for generations. They must be |
still plenty when thousands are destroyed
annually by the natives under the spur OF
the bounties. York Sun.
AN AFRICAN TELEPHONE.