Harold W. Fairbanks

We have learned something about the struggle among the plants and animals for food and for room on the earth. We must not think, however, that this struggle is at all like the war that is carried on between different nations. Wars are usually unnecessary and do more harm than good, for they result in the loss of the strongest and best men. But the struggle among the animals and plants has resulted in good, for it has crowded out the weakest and those less fitted to live.

The struggle among all living things for food and a share of the sunshine has covered the earth with a far greater variety than there would otherwise be. Because so many more are born than there is room for, they crowd and elbow each other. Many are forced to make their homes in regions which they would not have chosen if they had been free to do as they pleased. It is partly because of this crowding that some of the animals which once lived on the ground became changed into birds and made their homes in the trees. A number of the mammals found more freedom in the water and finally became whales, seals, and walruses. Many moved into deserts and, in learning to live with very little water, developed curious bodies and habits. Some have found a home in the cold North, where they have become suited to a climate which would quickly kill those which had held their ground in the warm and moist tropical regions.

Nature has thus filled the earth with an infinite variety of living things, each of which is doing its part in making the world beautiful and attractive. Man is Nature's last and most wonderful creation. He has learned to fly like the birds, to swim under the sea like the fish, and to harness Nature's forces and make them work for him. But man, with all his wisdom, has too often forgotten that he is really a brother to the lower creatures. The inhabitants of the air, the land, and the water could, if they were able to talk, tell the most pitiful tales of man's cruel treatment of them.

Of course we have to eat, as do all other living creatures, but for thousands of years people have supplied their wants largely from agriculture and from the domestic herds. Although very few of us now have to hunt for our food, and these few are those who live far out on the borders of newly settled regions, yet we have not forgotten the hunting instincts of our ancestors.

Our ancestors of long ago, like the savages on the earth today, seldom killed game unless they needed it for food. We, who think ourselves far better than they, now kill wild life for the pleasure of the chase. The professional hunter who seeks the glossy coats of the fur-bearing animals or the beautiful plumage of certain birds gives no thought to the wasted bodies that he leaves behind.

Since men have become civilized and their needs have become so many, Nature's arrangements have been seriously disturbed. She has not armed the wild creatures against men, who, with all kinds of marvelous weapons, are able to take advantage of them. The wild creatures discover very quickly that they can find little protection against this new enemy, no matter how quick and sharp their senses are.

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The blue jay has only his sharp eyes to help him when he seeks the cunningly hidden nest of another bird with the hope of being able to dine upon eggs. The breakfast of the wolf depends alone upon his quickness in catching a rabbit. The mountain lion depends upon his stealthiness when stalking a deer. The Indian relies upon his skill in imitating the call or the appearance of an animal when he tries to approach near enough to use his bow and arrow. Civilized men have lost much of the keenness of sight and hearing they once had, but they have far more than made up for this through their ingenuity in making deadly weapons.

We depend no longer upon the hunt for each day's supply of food. But the instinct to hunt which still remains we use to amuse ourselves while upon our camping trips. Some people even made a living by hunting for the market, although, fortunately for the wild creatures, little of this kind of hunting is now permitted.

The desire to get out of doors and live for a time each year among the wild mountains is another instinct which comes to us from our savage forefathers. This is a beneficial instinct, for life in the fresh air gives us new strength. The hunting instinct is not wrong in itself. It is the manner in which we hunt that is wrong. But how much finer it would be if, instead of using an outing as an excuse to destroy the wild creatures, we should use it to learn about them and their curious ways. How much more real pleasure there is in studying the habits of the denizens of the woods and fields than there is in killing them!

Many a boy wants to carry a gun, because he has read lurid stories of Indians and robbers, or of hunting in the jungles where lions and tigers abound. This often leads to the killing of harmless birds for the lack of bigger game. Boys should be taught either at home or in school the sacredness of life, and a feeling of pity and love for the wild creatures that are surrounded by enemies on every side. They should be taught that animals have feelings and that they want to live. They should be taught how wrong it is to destroy life uselessly. The nest of eggs or helpless young left to their fate through the thoughtless killing of a mother bird is a sight which must arouse the sympathy of every boy who has been taught what it means.

The killing of the mothers is the surest way to destroy a species. The laws in most of our states now regulate hunting during the breeding season and limit the number of wild animals or birds that may be taken in a given time. Whenever the numbers of any species become so reduced that it is in danger of extinction, all hunting of that species should be prohibited for a number of years.

We should feel sorry for those men who live in a civilized land and get the benefit of its advantages and yet are worse than savages at heart. If these men who are so wasteful of wild life could be stripped of their destructive weapons and sent into the wilds to make their living as savages do, they would soon learn to be more careful.

The animals prey upon each other because it is their nature to do so and because their lives depend upon it. Savages hunt because they must have food. We do not need to hunt, but, because of our higher intelligence, our hunting methods are far more destructive than are those of either animals or savages.