Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-31
HUNTERS KILLING
YELLOWSTONE ELK
Driven From Preserve by Storms,
They Are Being Shot Down
by Thousands.
by Frederic ]. Haskiu.

high power rppeaIlliE fititSs dfN Sifoptht
down elk by the thousand III southern
Montana lust outside Of Yellowstone
National Park, as the half-tame animals,
driven out OF their mountain refuge by
terrible storms and deep SHOWS, pour
across the park boundary.
South Of the park, iii the state oi
Wyoming. thousands of elk which travel
. ed IN that direction when the storms
occurred, arc starving TO death about the
fcnccd,in haystacks of the ranchrnen.
Not many Of them are being shot, but
nearly all Of those in Wyoming Will starve
TO death unless Congress makes an ciler-
Ccncv appropriation to buy hay Tor thsih'
II NJ Albright superintendent OF the
Yellowstone National Park, after dong
everything he could to save the Yellow
stone elk herd in the west. has now como
10 Washington 10 make known to Coh-
rress and the people the fact that 'iilGSS
emergency legislation IS passed pToinp'N'
one of the finest of American hig game
animals may be nearly extinct ncIore
snrinr 4 mere nucleus about which TO
reIu!;ld the herd is all that can now be
saved under the hcst ot circllnlstanceS
The herd Of elk 10 the Yellowstone
National Park Is generally cstrnatcd
nj shout forty thousand ihdiViouas' Al
tbourb no one can do more than guess
~ the number. in ail the rest OF the
Tnifod States. where elk formerly existed
- ,niilio1e. thcrc are not half as many elk
&c ~ thc Yellowstone. Many Of these
cu outside tho park are Of another and
smaller species and few Of them are adC-
ol.afclv protected In other words. the
Yellowstone Park is the last stand of the
Elk against extinction.
SPLENDID uERD.
Tins Yellowstone elk herd Us one Of the
most sylcudid and beautiful treasures Of
animal life possessed by any nation The
,rel, Xix herd in its wild natural habitat IS
onr of the principal sights for which
thousands of people annually travel TO the
ra,L Artists and naturaists 90 there 10
pa,nt and study them, These elk. over
flowing the boundaries of the park by
natural increase. keep tho ADJOINING states
stocked with elk. furnishing sport e IN"
residents, and 10 visiting Sportsincn from
iii n,,rts of tho world Furthermore, elk
a-e captured alive IN the Yellowstone and
scnt 10 anv State county or municipality
which anplies for them Some 80 ship
ncnt- of Elk have been sent from the lol-
l,wstone 20 - different States since 1918.
some OF these have been small shipments
for geological parks. but many Of them
have been small herds for stocking pur-
r,cs.es IN this wav elk herds have been
1lsntei in Virginia, West NITgInia, Penn
tvlvania. New York and other eastern
states where they had hccn eNternlnsted
almost century ago.
Thus the Yellowstone ok herd Is truly
ratIousl resource from which people All
ever the United States derive pleasure m
some wsv. II properly cared for, this elk
herd nav we'll be the means Of re-eStab-
hShing the elk over s large part of its
Original range. which was almost from
coast to coast
Now the question which the National
Psrl Service wishes 10 address 70 the
American public IS this Is the nltod
States. as nation. strong enough ami
rich enough To protect and ssve this yes
tire az its wild life, or arc the elk 70 he
slIayyed to perish for the lack oi few
hundred thousand dollars, with which 70
hav hay and land upon which 10 ralse
hay?
= peculiar one That great national park
affords them an adcquatC and ideal range
h the summer and during mild winters.
When An unusually hard winter comes,
their food in the mountains Is buried under
ceep SHOWS. they are forced to seek lower
sl,ltudes. and that makes il Necessary for
them 70 leave the PARK and the almost
perfect protection which II affords them.
South of the park Is the state OF
Wyoming Wyoming has always been q
progressive State n the matter OF pro
tectInc wild lIfc. II has created Just
south OF the park the great Teton game
preserve. q State institution. Here the
-Jk are almost as safe As IN the elioW-
stone. and in ordinary winters rnapy OF
the Yellowstone elh winter ID the Teton
game preserve.
south Of the Teton preserve hes the
famous Tackron Hole. Jackson Hole
i rich little mountain valley, shut IN by
some OF the highest and ruggedest noun
4ajrs in the world In the old DAYS IL
was for tins reason 3 stronghold of
bandits and badmen- Today L Is owned
~ few hundred ranchmen, who raise
hay IN the valley for winter feed and
pasture their cattle during the summer
IN the adjacent mountains
ENEMIES OF TIE ELK.
Now these Jackson Hole people SIN
cerelv hate the elk. If II we're not for the
elk. the Teton game preserve would not
have been created and that much more
mountain land would have been available
as cattle range Furthermore, the elk
eat grass outside If the game preserve,
which the ranchnlen would otherwise
have for their cattle They do not see
ATF Use il IIaA4ilE al cIh nero an NNaN
They understand llfe only IN terms Of
beef. They wish al tie eik were dead.
and say so.
In very hard winter the elk pour into
Jackson Hole. That IS what they have
done now There are probably ten
thousand Of them there The United
state Biological Survey own. d small
hav farm in Jackson Hole where II raises
hav and stores II for the elk against
the coming hard winter. This hay sup
pIv will save perhaps & thousand urtwo
thousand of elk The rest is far as
anyonc can see now. must Atarve to
death The rancbmen viii not give
them anything. Mr.. Albright has photo
graphs Of the hav-stacks Of these ranch
men, carefully fenced in. with windows Of
-ik that have died Of starvation lying all
about them.
Some thousands Of elk which missed
the fence went on north into Montana,
and these are the ones that are being
slaughtered The Park Service wishes
TO make if clear that it does not object to
the genuine sportsman who goes out and
kills his one elk in fair way It il de-
sired that the clk should stock the coun-
try about the park and supply good hunt
ing there What il does object 10 Is the
lengtening of the open season by
Montana legislature. which las made
possible the slaughter ot thousands Of