The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-08-05
ANIMAL DIFFERENTIATION.
Beasts, Birds and Fish Sacrificed
to Commerce
The Advance of Civilization Gradually
WipIng Food Creatures Out OF th-
istence-Some startling Rev
! citations ON the subject

The destruction among the wild ami
mails birds and fish which has taken
place during the last fifty years could
not be better illustrated than it Is in
the report Just issued by Frederick
Lucas. of the Smithsonian institution,
on the animals recently extinct, or
threatened with determination, repre-
scented in the National museum of the
United States. This most interesting
paper was suggested by the recent ef-
forts made by American naturalists To
secure for their museums specimens of
animals, formerly quite common, which
were passing unnoticed out of eX-
istence. and of which in some cases 1t
was found that no living example could
be obtained This led to national
stocBtaiing of the contents of the prin-
cipal museums, and incidentally To a
review of the process of destruction as
it is now going on.
Some of the instances given seem al
most incredible. Cod. perhaps the
most prolific fish used as food, were
so completely destroyed on part OF the
New England coast that when the
waters were reStoclled with the produce
of one hundred AMI thirty million eggs
the fishermen of Plymouth, in Massa-
chusetts sent specimens of the new
fish" to Gloucester to inquire what they
were The work of the fishery com
mission has already gone far To repair
the waste and destruction of the New
England fishermen, though strenuous
resistance has always been offered TO
their efforts to open the passage for
shad. and salmon to the spawning
grounds. But the lobster ''canncries'
have so far depleted the apparently in
cXhauStible stock that the waters adj
iacent To the works are cleared of all
but those of the smallest size: and
even the great oyster grounds OF Chesa-
peake bay are showing signs of cN-
haustion. while halibut are growing
scarcCr yearly. If the teeming repro
ductive power of the shad, the cod and
the oyster is unable To replace the havoc
made among them, il may safely bC in
fcrred that the birds and beasts fare
even worse in the unequal struggle for
survival.
1t is IA characteristic example of the
bias of the supreme Caucasian mind
in its dealings with new animals THAI
when Columbus sailors We're sent t"
the top of the islet of the Alta Nela, in
the West Indian archipelago, to look
for the missing ships, when engaged in
the search for the mythical province OF
Cipango. they at once marked their JOY
at finding eight sea wolves" by knock
ing them all on the head. These sea
wolves" were the West Indian seal.
formerly common all over the archi-
pelapo and off the coast of Florida and
the gulf of Mexico. but now scarcely 70
be found the on mainland coast at all.
1t recently occurred to certain persons
interested in natural history that moth
ing has been heard lately of the Cali
fornia walruS, a huge and harmless
beast which was recently quite common
on the coast of Lower California. Il
could hardly be supposed that herds ot
creatures from fourteen to sixteen feet
long, and of equal or greater girth.
could disappear from the coast without
being missed, but such appears to have
been the case. Inland "sllin hunters
are destroying every animal which has
a hide worth selling as fast as they
killed off the bison. The price hardly
makes a difference. Fifty cents per
skin has almost eXterminatcd the pee
carries, the fierce little pigs which wcr,
once so common in some of the couutiC.
of Texas that the ground was covered
by their tracks and the air full of their
muslly odor. BlaclS-tailcd deer and an
telOpe fare no better, and from all ac-
counts the destruction of game in Brit
ish Columbia il no less rapid than across
the border.