IN CANADA.

Buffalo Park, Wainwright, Alberta 1,052
Elk Island Park, Alberta 53
Rocky Mountains Park, Banff, Alberta 27

Total National and Provincial Preserves 1,365

Of wild bison there are only three groups:  49 head in the Yellowstone National Park, about 75 Pablo “outlaws” around the Montana Bison Range, and between 300 and 400 head in northern Athabasca, southwest of Fort Resolution, existing in small and widely scattered bands.

The efforts of man to atone for the great bison slaughter by preserving the species from extinction have been crowned with success.  Two governments and two thousand individuals have shared this task,—­solely for sentimental reasons.  In these facts we find reason to hope and believe that other efforts now being made to save other species from annihilation will be equally successful.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AFRICAN GAME

Thanks to the diligence with which sportsmen and field naturalists have recorded their observations in the haunts of big game, it is not at all difficult to forecast the immediate future of the big game of the world.  We may safely assume that all lands well suited to agriculture, mining and grazing will become populated by rifle-bearing men, with the usual result to the wild mammals and birds.  At the same time, the game of the open mountains everywhere is thinly distributed and easily exterminated.  On the other hand, the unconquerable forest jungles of certain portions of the tropics will hold their own, and shelter their four-footed inhabitants for centuries to come.

On the open mountains of the world and on the grazing lands most big game is now being killed much faster than it breeds.  This is due to the attacks of five times too many hunters, open seasons that are too long, and bag limits that are far too liberal.  As an example, consider Africa Viewed in any way it may be taken, the bag limit in British East Africa is appallingly high.  Notice this astounding array of wild creatures that each hunter may kill under a license costing only $250!

 2 Buffalo
 2 Rhinoceros
 2 Hippopotamus
 1 Eland
 2 Grevy Zebra
20 Common Zebra
 2 Fringe-eared Oryx
 4 Beisa Antelope
 4 Waterbuck
 1 Sable Antelope
 1 Roan Antelope
 1 Greater Kudu
 4 Lesser Kudu
10 Topi
20 Coke Hartebeest
 2 Neumann Hartebeest
 4 Jackson Hartebeest
 6 Hunter’s Antelope
 4 Thomas Kob
 2 Bongo
 4 Pallah
 2 Sitatunga
 3 Gnu
12 Grant Gazelle
 4 Waller’s Gazelle
10 Harvey’s Duiker
10 Isaac’s Duiker
10 Blue Duiker
10 Kirk’s Dik-dik
10 Guenther’s Dik-dik
10 Hinde’s Dik-dik
10 Cavendish Dik-dik
10 Abyssinian Oribi
10 Haggard’s Oribi