The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-11-21
GAME DISAPPEARING.

With the disappearance of the large
forests, the brown bear has ceased to
exist in England, Denmark, Holland,
Belgium and Germany, and is seldom
seen in France, says the New York
lvz6une. At times one is found in
the Tyro1 or in Switzerland. 1t is
common in Pennsylvania, along the
danube, in Russia, Sweden, Norway,
Turkey and Greece, and is found in
great numbers in Spain, Italy and
Asia. We have varieties in the Uni
ted States, the most formidable being
the grizzly bear of the Rocky Noun
tains. The bear seeks the quiet wood
lands and makes his home in the
trunks of decayed trees or some cave,
from whence it seldom goes, except
to search for food.
The Virginia deer is still common
ppsafG4g u sf G4ntfHK IL sBH BSgs i s{aaAaIy saya dis
been utterly exterminated. Fortu-
natly, the game laws are assisting to
savethe deer and other game animals
from utter determination. Formerly
numeDus from the Eastern coast as
far as he Gulf of Mexico and along
the line of the Rocky Mountains, the
stag and deer have little by little been
driven irto the mountain forests. The
bighorn or wild sheep of the Rocky
Mountains is gradually disappearing
ing before the hunter, or seeks the
most inaccessible parts of the lofty
ranges.
When the first settlers reached
these shores the bison inhabited the
entire Atlantic coast, and less than
century ago it could be found any,
where west of the Alleghenies. To-
day probably not a hundred are to be
found in the whole country. They
have succumbed to indiscriminate
butchery at the hands of the "sports
men," who have proved more relent-
less than their natural enemy, the
wolf.
The puma, or panther, which once
roamed from South America to Can
ada, is fast being hunted down, and
will soon b. extinct in both Central
and North America. The puma is
at home alike in the forest as on the
pampas. During the day he sleeps
in some tree or hides in the rank
grass, and at night goes out in quest
of smaller animals for food.
The fur bearing animals are more
persistently hunted than any other,
since many people depend for living
on their capture. When it is shown
that in one year there was brought to
the market the fur of I8o, 900 pine
martens, 400, 900 stone martens, 6oo,-
900 polecats, 4oo,o ermines, I6o,
900 minks, $1,000 otters, and from
America alone I5o,o beavers and
1oo, 900 chinchillas, it will be seen
that their determination is question
of short time. The sea otter is now
to be found only in the Nnrtern Pa
cifc, on the northern coast of Cali
fornia, and thence along the coast of
America and of Asia. Today less
than 1900 sea otter furs are sent to
the market.
The raccoon is so much sought after
for both its fur and its meat, that
it is nearly extinct in the populated
districts of North America. From the
swamps of Buenos Ayres and Monte
video no less than so, 900 skins of the
coypu rats have been sent to the mar
ket in single year. At this rate it
would naturally be soon exterminat-
ed had not steps been taken to pro-
tect it in Buenos Ayres. The chin
chilla, which belongs to the family of
the Java rabbit, formerly inhabited
the whole of the Andes as far down
as the sea, but the snares and gun of
the trapper have driven it to the
mountainous districts.
The beaver was formerly abundant
on all the streams and lakes of the
country, and many a place by its
name recalls the labors of the indus
trious creature. It has been exter-
minated in most parts of the country,
and is found only in most inaccessi-
bic, and, therefore, unfrequented
woods. The opossum and the rae
coon are also vanishing; and since
the skunk skin, under the name of
Alaska sable, finds purchasers, even
that animal is pursued with new
ardor.