The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-09
COx'S Consolidation Sale 1921 Thi1 !

frequently dra gging the roofs off the native houses in their search for grain. Under such circumstances 1t Is per missible to sh oot them. But these raids are made with rare exceptions at night and elephant shooting in the dark is not a pursuit which comments itself to men who have knowledge of the beast The annual tale of deaths caused by wild elephants Is not, 1t Is true, long one: 1t varies each year from 40 to over 50, the majority oc- , curing in Bengal and Assam, where planting Is carried on among junbles whe the animals are many and fear less of man. But 1t may be suggested that the death roll is sufficiently heavy to justify more vigorous measures than have yet been sanctioned by the inn peria1 government.
 The truth is the elephant has been over-preserved in India and, as was in- evitable, has come into collision with hu- man interests Large areas of virgin jungle have been cleared and brought under cultivation during the last 30 years and the process of retaining such land, the haunts of elephant, bison and other large fauna, continues Not only do the plantations themselves suffer; the labor question in the tea districts has always been sufficiently difficult, and when, as has more than once occurred during the last few years, coolies desert en masse, terrorized by the nocturnal raids of ele- plants and the killing of comrades, sen timental objection to offensive measures against a noble species are out of place. There is no danger of excessive slaughter; the vast forest tracts of Ben gal, Assam, Madras, Burma and other provinces afford the wild elephant refuge which man cannot seriously disturb Such shootings as might be done by the planters would make slight impression upon the herds numerically, but granted leave to shoot within a radius of, say 50 miles of their lands, the planters would teach the elephants to avoid the neigh borhood of man and the desired end would be achieved
 The position of the Indian government which lies between continuance of strict preservation and sacrificing revenue in the shape of taxes on cultivated land or sanctioning offensive tactics, is not a novel one. The Natal government in 1897 had to choose between preservation of the last cherished group of hippopotami and the prosperous sugar planting indus try on the banks of the Umgeni river. The two could not co-exist and the hip popotamus had to go. The settlers in British East Africa are already asking whether their industry or the destructive but preserved rhinoceros is of greater importance. The kangaroo was regarded with indulgence by the Australian colon fst until the sheep came, since then the kangaroo has been reduced to the rank of vermin and treated as such.
 Much as we may deplore the practical extermination of the American bison, we must admit that the countless herds of the cos could not have existed with the great wheat crops. which now cover so much of its old habitat. Fortunately the competition between man and ele- phant for living room in India is carried on under different conditions. There is no question of exterminating the animal, but merely of putting the fear of death'' into him. Immunity breeds contempt for man in some animals. We have note worthy example of this in the carefully preserved black bears In the Yellowstone valley. These have grown so impudent that it has become necessary from time to time to tie them up by the heels and fog them Into that respect for humanity which undue intimacy has caused them to lay aside.