Excerpt from Teaching Conservation of Wildlife Through 4-H Clubs

Jackson 5 lists 11 extinct North American mammals and 30 other species that are threatened with extinction.

Many destructive forces are at work, chief of which are overshoot ing and the destruction of wildlife habitats in connection with the development of agriculture. There is wanton exploitation for com mercial purposes. Game is being taken illegally and for unlawful sale. Bag limits are too high and unfair shooting ethics are still being tolerated in many sections. Too many people are gunners rather than sportsmen. Hornaday gives this distinction between the two: A sportsman stops shooting when game becomes scarce, and he does not object to long closed - season laws; but a gunner believes in killing all that the law allows In foreign countries beautiful birds are still being destroyed to provide feathers for the millinery trade. In certain sections of our own country unintelligent, thoughtless people of low-income levels are killing songbirds like the robin, thrush, meadowlark, flicker, and mocking bird for food. Automobiles are responsible for the destruo tion of much of our wildlife. Dreyer (4) reports that approximately birds and mammals are killed each day on the highways. Unless some definite action is taken to stop these destructive forces that are continually at work, a considerable part of our remaining wildlife will soon disappear.

Yet in spite of the demolition occurring, our wildlife resources, which are difficult to measure in dollars and cents, do support an annual business of over half a billion dollars Wildlife has an immediate as well as a long-time economic return. At the present time many farmers do not appreciate the financial benefits open to them in this channel. In some instances wildlife resources can supply a supplementary income which will materially raise the standard of farm family living.

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