The weekly examiner., 1891-01-17
ANIMAL EXTINCTION.

A startling publication is issued by the Smithsonian Institution, which shows that many of the most valuable species of animals at present inhabit-
 ing the world will inevitably be driven
 off the face of the earth and rendered absolutely extinct within Q few years to come. For example, the elephant is already doomed. Each year 100,-
 900 of these pachyderms are slaughtered to supply the market with ivory. Up to within compara- lively recent period commerce drew chiefly upon the great stores of dead" ivory in possession Of the African na- tives, which had accumulated for centu- ries; but now this reserve stock has been exhausted, andaall the tusks ex. ported from the dark continent must be
 got green" by hunting live elephants.
 Thus the herds are being rapidly wiped
 out, not to mention the incidental fact.
 according to Explorer Stanley. that every pound of ivory that reaches
 Europe costs the life of a man,
 woman or child, while every
 twenty tusks are secured at the price of an entire district with all it's people. villages and plantations. This. of course. isdue to the intimate connec- ton which exists between the ivory gathering business and the slave trade.
 You will get some notion of what 100. . 900 elephants mean If you will consider that, placed in line, that number would stretch 1so miles. As for the slaves, they are secured for the purpose of car. rying big ivory to the coast by the Arabs, who attack and destroy the vra uf11 <>%H @~a&<x tivity those of the inhabitants who are serviceable as porters, and killing the rest Tn this way whole regions in Africa have been depopulated and laid waste.
 1t is fashion, however, that is most importantly responsible for the thraat- ened extinction of animals we'll worth preserving. To prove this statement. reference is made to a single recent auction sale in London, at which were disposed of, under the hammer, 30, ,o00 monkey skins, 250, 900 Australian opos4 sums skins. 500, GOO humming birds sl1ins. coco skins of birds of paradise, and s8o, 000 assorted birds' skins from India. In all the collections in the world, public and private, there dcea not exist SO many birds skins, stuffed or other wise, as the total Of these amounts to Evidently thes beaut1ful birds of she eatth must go. and Aus tralian oppossdms and monkeys have no show whatever. One dealer last year sold a.ooo. 900 skins of birds.
 Every one knows by this time, that the fur seals are also doomed. Having been altogether exterminated from the rookerfes of the Southern seas, where they used to congregatA In such count less myriads, they are now being wiped oR from th0ir last resting place on the two Pribylov islands In Behring sea by remorselesss pirates In schooners who kill ten for every one they get "A like fate awaits the hair scaL SITS. GOO oS which were slain last year for leather and oil. Even tho aI1igators croco- diles and other reptiles are not spared. Even they must disappear, because their hides are wanted for reticules, pocket books and other fancy articles.l ' sf Man--mere particularly the cau-I cssian4s the most destructive of ani-3 malls His appetite for killing is in-5 satiRble, and to this mere taste for slauRh hter for its own sake the marked and rapid changes at present being wrought in tho fauna of the world are largely attEt tAutable. Among 1ths valu- able beasts now. swiftly succnmb binR to the spor rtsmsn,s rife is the true 4ebra. which is condnad at this nnomsat to small area in South Africa, while the giraffe is quickly disappearing from the same SaGse. Let loose q white man with anaequfpment of Improved weapons in thes .wildA, and he will call 1t 'sport" to slay wantonly every thing that he can get. & pop at--not for food, ! but simply for the sake of taking away life. Mind. you. it has been left for civi1izat ton to thoroughly develop this type Of savagery. The only parrot known to this country, which was for merly plentiful as far north as Kansas, is now being finally extirpated in Flori-s da by visitors who kill the birds for .sport," They are naturally tame, and it is easy enough to knock over half dozen at one bang. They are not good to eat, but then they make such pretty mark for a gun.
 A while ago the so-cal1ed passenger pigeon" flew by millions in the Ohio valley andsasfar East as Massachusetts. Now but very few of them are left. They have been shot by wholesale, and while they lasted were commonly util- ized by shoot ting from traps. It is great sport to. take g pigeon that has been captured in net, put, him in box and pop the poor creature at short range when he flies out at signal, with about one chance in fifty for his life. Tn this way useful animal after animal is being driven to extinction. The list of those which civilized man has driven of the earth where God is supposed to have put them for His use will be an appall- ing thing to think upon a short time hence. Wherever valuable beast Is found in great and profita numbers the first thought seems to be to go in and wipe 1t out This is particularly Caucasian instinct-St. Louis Globe Democrat a