Supplement to Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador | Page 5

free from molestation during the first fortnight after
their arrival; and the same applies to migratory mammals, though not
quite in the same way. Inland sanctuaries should be made near
Hamilton inlet, in the Mingan and Mistassini districts and up the
Eastmain river. Ultimately an Arctic sanctuary might be made on either
Baffin or Melville islands. A meteorological station in the Arctic,
linked up with Labrador by wireless, would be of great benefit to the
weather forecasts, as we now have no reports from where so much of
our cold or mild winters are affected by the different drift of enormous
ice-fields; and whenever one is established, a wild-life protection
station should accompany it.
Sanctuaries should never be too big; not one tenth of the whole area

will ever be required for them. But they should be placed where they
will best serve the double purpose of being natural wild "zoos" and
over-flowing reservoirs of wild-life. The exact situations of most,
especially inland, will require a good deal of co-operative study
between zoologists and other experts. But there is no doubt whatever,
that they ought to be established, no matter how well the laws are
enforced over both leaseholds and open areas. Civilised man is
appreciating them more and more every day; and every day he is
becoming better able to reach them. By giving absolute security to all
desirable species in at least two different localities we can keep objects
of Nature study in the best possible way both for ourselves and our
posterity.
Only twelve years ago forty mills were debasing the immemorial and
gigantic sequoia into mere timber in its last refuge in California. But
even the general public sees now that this was a barbarous and idiotic
perversion of relative values. What is a little perishable timber, for
which substitutes can be found elsewhere, compared with a grove of
trees that will be the wonder and delight of generations? What is the
fleeting but abominable gratification of destroying the harmless
lizard-like Tuatera of New Zealand compared with the deep interest of
preserving it as the last living vertebrate that takes us back to Primary
times? What is the momentary gratification of wearing egret feathers
compared with the certainty of soon destroying the herons that produce
them altogether; or what can compensate for the vile cruelty done to
mutilated parent birds and starving young, or the murder of Bradley,
the bird warden when trying to protect them?
LETTERS
The following quotations from a few of the many and wholly
unsolicited letters received are arranged in alphabetical order. They are
strictly _verbatim_:
_Australia._ The Animals' Protection Society. F. Montagu Rothery,
Esq., Secretary, 82 Pitt Street, Sydney, New South Wales.
Here in this State our fauna and flora are both rapidly disappearing,
there being so many agencies at work for their destruction. It will soon
be too late to save many of our beautiful birds and animals, and I am
anxious to bring under notice your words for the preservation of
animals by a system of sanctuaries.

Dr. Robert Bell, late Chief Geologist, Geological Survey of Canada,
who has made many explorations in Labrador and adjacent lands and
waters, and who has always given special attention to the mammals,
writes:
I approve very heartily of the plan. It will be a humane thing to try to
protect the animals and will be very advantageous in every way. It will
no doubt receive the sympathy of all classes. There will, however, be
some difficulties to overcome and much work to be done before the
plan gets into successful operation.... As to the location and dimensions
of the sanctuary, the north side of the lower St. Lawrence is the most
suitable or only region left, except where it is too far north to benefit
the most of the mammals and birds which we should try to preserve. It
will be desirable to reserve and protect as great a length of the shore as
possible, but perhaps enough will be found between Bradore bay on the
east and Great Mekattina island on the west, or this might be extended
to Natashkwan. To carry it up to Mingan, it would become more and
more difficult to protect the coast the further up you come. Between
Mekattina island and Natashkwan, there are no attractive rivers to
tempt trespassers to go inland, those which exist being difficult for
canoe navigation....
The animals soon find out where they are safe and come to live in even
a small area. The Algonquin park is a case in point. There the bears
have increased immensely in a few years and the less noticeable
mammals and birds have also increased very much. I know of a more
conspicuous case of a small area, on the Nelson river, where, owing to
an