The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-12-08
ALASKAN GAME DYING OFF.
Caribou and Moose VIII Disappear
With Present Conditions.

Unless the game laws are drastically
enforced in Alaska, says the Spokane
Spokesman Review, the immense
herds of caribou and moose in that
country will soon share the lamentable
end that has overtaken the buffalo.
Such is the opinion of soldiers at Fort
Wright who have lately returned from
the land which is known in Europe and
all over this country as one of the few
places in the world where big game
shooting is now abundant.
They say caribou are still plentiful
in the interior, but the moose are be-
ing rapidly thinned out owing to the
inroads made on them for commercial
purposes. During the winter months
the price of meat received from the
United States in cold storage is almost
prohlbitive, while the Indians bring to
the towns venison in plenty, which
they are glad to sell at Is cents a
pound.
Fresh meat must be had to make
the body able 10 Withstand the winter
cold and the price of caribou and
moose is so much lower than that of
beef and such products from the states
that the inhabitants gladly welcome
the Indian traders who come in with
fresh supplies.
The trappers who live in lonely
parts of the islands with their dogs
are almost universally respectors of
the rule that allows them eight carl
bou or moose a year for food which
is about the amount necessary to keep
body and soul together. But the In
dians and the dealers are not so scrup-
ulous. They kill as many animals as
they can, confident that there is a
ready market for them at the towns.
The principal barrier in the way of
a rigid enforcement of the game law is
the great extent of the country. The
warden learns of some infraction of
the law, but the news generally comes
in two or three days after the slaugh-
ter and the perpetrator is by that time
100 or more miles away.
One observer of the interior of Alas
ka said that one afternoon he tried to
count a herd of caribou on neighbor-
ing hillside and got up to 500 before he
stopped. Even with that large number
there were many that he missed and
through the interior of the country.
The moose do not travel in herds and
are disappearing faster than the Carl
bou.
Even the Indians from the interior
have noticed the diminution of moose
within only a few years and they pre-
dict that in a few more years there will
be no big game except in the farthest
and widest parts of the country if the
game laws can not be enforced more
rigidly.
The officers are Jealous and anxious
to do their duty, but the distances, the
primitive method of travelling and the
inaccessible trails lead to results that
are not very satisfactory.
Big game is not the only sufferer
Ducks and birds of all kinds are
slaughtered indiscriminately tourists
as well as dealers sharing in the de-
struction. The islands up the Lynn
canal, where bears and deer were
few years ago far more plentiful than
Inhabitants, are becoming depopulated
of animals and Alaska will soon lose
her prestige as a game paradise If the
government does not step in and bring
the offenders to a peremptory stop.
It is thought by those conversant
with the country that stricter penalties
should be imposed than those which
now obtain, which are about the same
as those in Oregon and the Pacific
states. Owing to the impossibility of
ever obtaining many convictions on ac-
count of the inability of the officers to
discover infractions of the law until
long after the booty has been disposed
of and the trader gone to parts I'M
known, it is felt that the penalties
which are in force in states where
apprehension is easier are inadequate
when applied to Alaskan conditions.
AS the matter now stands, with the
accessi bility of Alaska to
Of travellers and settlers there,
the game is bound to become more
scarce each year, and with game laws
that can not be put into operation the
effects are bound to be disastrous.
Such big game as mosquitoes and
gnats, which rival in size and ferocity