Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-15

III
i&sx8WH7 lutely extinct within a few
NN%taS1 years. For example, the
| EE elephant is already doomed
| ~ Each year 100000 of these
| NA pachyderms are slaughtered
| IHsslr to supply the market with
IhE. ivory. Up to within q com.
o Dasa,,ysly ,,s recent sn.1 ps saos
the great stores of dead ivory in possession
of African natives, which had accumulated fol-
centuries; but now this reserve stock has been
exhausted. and all the tusks exported from the
dark continent must be got green" by hunt.
ing live elephants. Thus the herds being
rapidly wiped out. not to mention the incl
dental fact, according to Explorer Stanley,
! that every pound of ivory that reaches Europe
costs the life of man, womans or
child, while every twenty tusks are secured al
the price OF an entire district. with
| all its people, villages and plantations. This,
| of course is due to the intimate connection
| which exists between the ivory gathering bust
ness and the slave trade. One get some
notion Of what 100000 elephants mean if he
will consider that placed i'll line that number
would stretch $50 miles. AZ for the slaves,
they arc secured for the plrpose of carrying
| ivory to tho cons. by the Arabs, who attack
and destroy the native villages, carrying of
into captivity those of the inhabitants who are
serviceabe as porters and killing tine rest. In
| this way whole regions in Africa have been de-
populated and laid waste.
| FASHION RESPONSIBLE
1t is fashion, however, that is most import
antiy responsible for the threatened extinction
of animals we'll worth preserving. To prove
this statement reference is made to a single re-
| cent auction sale in London. at which were dis
posed of under the hammer 80 900 monkey
skins. 100000 Australian opossums' skins. 4OO,-
900 humming birds skins, COCO skins Of birds
| OF paradise and $50. 600 assorted birds skins
| from India. In all the collections in the world
! public and private. there do not exist so many
| birds SKINS, stuffed or otherwise as the total
| of these amounts to. Evidently the beautiful
birds OF the earth must 80, and Australian
| opossums and monkeys have no show what
ever. One dealer last year sold 100000 skins
| of birds.
FUR SEALS DOOMED.
Every one knows by this time that the fur
| seals are also doomed. Having been altogether
exterminated from the rookeries in the sout h
ern seas, where they used to congregate in
such countless myriads, they are now being
wiped OF from their last resting place on the two
Prlbylov Islands in Behrlng sea by remorseless
pirates in schOoners, who kill ten for every one
| they get. A like fate awaits, at short notice,
| the hair seal, $4,000 OF which were slain last
year for leather and oil. Even the alligators,
crocodlles and other reptiles are not spared.
I1Ntu lueF must disappear, because their llUeS
are wanted for reticules, pocket books and
other fancy articles"
DESTRUCTIVE MAN.
Man-more particularly the Caucasian-is
| the most destructive of animals His appetite
for killing Is Unsuitable, and to this mere taste
| for slaughter for its own sake the marked and
rapid changes at present being wrought in the
| fauna of the world largely attributable
| Among the valuable beasts now swiftly sue
4 hi pert m fhn a.,
zebra, which is confined at this momen. to a
small area in South Africa. while the graf, is
| quickly disappearing from the same cause Let
loose white man with an equipment
and he will call 1t "sport" to Stay
wantonly everything that he can get
pop at-not for food bus simply for the sake
| of taking away life. Mind you. 1t has been
| left for civilization to thoroughly develop this
| type OF sayagery. The only parrot know to
this country, which was formerly plentiful as
| far north Us Kansas, is now being finally ex-
| tirpated i'll Florida by visitors who kill the
bird for sport" They are naturally TAME,
and 1t Is easy enough to knock over half a
but then they make such pretty mark for a
gun.
| PASSENGER PIGEONS.
while ago the so-called passenger pigeon"
| flew by millions in the Ohio valley as far east
as Massachusetts. Now but very few of them
| are left They have been shot by wholesale
and while they lasted were commonly utilized
| for shooting from traps. 1t is great sport to
| take pigeon that has been captured in a net,
put him IN q box and pop tho poor creature at
| short range when he flies out at signal, with
| about one chance In fifty for his life.
In this way useful animal after animal is
being driven to extinction. The list of those
| which civilized man has driven off the earth
where God is supposed to have put them for
his use, will be appalling thing to think
| upon a short time hence. Wherever a valuable
| beast is found i'll great and profitable numbers
| the first thought seems to be to go and wipe it
| out. That Is particularly Caucasian instinct
The giant tortOises of the Galapagos Islands,
| which have for n long time past been mos: SER
| viceable food for supplying ships that touch
there. are being finally disposed of. No more
| big ones OF the sort that weigh from 500 to 700
pounds apiece remain. but only a few little
| fellows not worth taking. These are land tur-
| ties and used to be caught crawling about on
| the islands sluggishly, so little trouble being
required to gather them in that single party
| OF sailors would often bring in as many as
| twenty from one expedition. Now they are
nearly all gone and soon there will be none lett
| THE wALRUs TO GO.
| As to that enormous but comparatively help
less beast, the walrus, its doom is likewise
sealed. Before the weapons of those who pur-
sue it to get its hide for boots and leather its
tusks for ivory and its whiskers for opium pipe
| picks, 1T Is quickly disappearing. The method
| adopted by the hunters Is to approach n group
| OF walruses on the ice, and after picking off
the most alert bulls from a safe distance with
rifles slaughter the herd at leisure. 1t was in
somewhat the same way that the great arctic
sea COW, now long extinct was utterly ami
| hilated. This mighty mammal, related to the
msnatee and dugonS of southern waters, was
| first discovered on what is known as Behring
Island by Behring's expedition in 17il. An en-
thusiastic naturals: attac he'd to Behring's party
| described it as being, when full grown, thirty
feet long. twenty feet around the body and of
about 5000 pounds weight. 1t had a small and
| toothlcss head and its skin was dark and rough
like tree bark. The hide was considerably over
an inch in thickness and so tough that the
| sailors had to chop it with axes. A few years
ago DIR. Stejneger of the Smithsonian visited
Behring Island for the purpose OF procuring
some bones OF this extraordinary creature and
did succeed in obtaining an entire skeleto
the dimensions Of which confirm the
reports made by the naturalists referred
to. These sea cows were accustomed to herd
about the mouths of streams and live upon sea
weeds, which required no chewing They were
stupid and almost helpless, owing to their
bulk and clumsy build. For many years YES.
sells sailing for the northwest coast of North
America were accustomed to stop at Behring
Island to lay in a stock of fresh and sailed sea
COW. Probably there were not more than 2, OOO
of the beasts at the beginning; they were slow
in reproducing their Species and the last oil
them was killed in l7G7.
Row SEA ELEPHANTS WERE ExrEnMINATEp.
| Ruthless murder has likewise exterminateI