Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador by William Wood
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Commission of Conservation
Canada
ANIMAL SANCTUARIES
IN
LABRADOR
AN ADDRESS PRESENTED
BY
LT.-COLONEL WILLIAM WOOD, F.R.S.C.
Before the Second Annual Meeting
of the Commission of Conservation
at Quebec, January, 1911
OTTAWA: CAPITAL PRESS LIMITED, 1911
_Animal Sanctuaries
in Labrador_
An Address Presented
BY
LT.-COLONEL WILLIAM WOOD
BEFORE
THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION
HELD AT QUEBEC, JANUARY, 1911
An Appeal
All to whom wild Nature is one of the greatest glories of the Earth,
all who know its higher significance for civilized man to-day, and all
who consequently prize it as an heirloom for posterity, are asked to
help in keeping the animal life of Labrador from being wantonly done
to death.
There is nothing to cause disagreement among the three main classes of
people most interested in wild life--the men whose business depends in
any way on animal products, the sportsmen, and the Nature-lovers of
every kind. There are very good reasons why the general public should
support the scheme. And there are equally good reasons why it should
be induced to do so by simply telling it the truth about the senseless
extermination that is now going on.
Every reader can help by spreading some knowledge of the subject in
his or her home circle. Canada, like all free countries, is governed
by public opinion. And sound public opinion, like all other good
things, should always begin at home.
The Press can help, as it has helped many another good cause, by
giving the subject full publicity. Free use can be made of the present
paper in any way desired. It is left non-copyright for this very
purpose.
Experts can help by pointing out mistakes, giving information, and
making suggestions of their own. And if any of them will undertake to
lead, the present author will undertake to follow.
It is proposed to issue a supplement in 1912, containing all the
additional information collected in the mean time. Every such item of
information will be duly credited to the person supplying it.
All correspondence should be addressed--
COLONEL WOOD,
59, Grande Allee, Quebec.
Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador
BY
LIEUT.-COLONEL WILLIAM WOOD, F.R.S.C., ETC.
MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN:--
To be quite honest I must begin by saying that I am not a scientific
expert on either animals, sanctuaries or Labrador. But, by way of
excusing my temerity, I can plead a life-long love of animals, a good
deal of experience and study of them--especially down the Lower St.
Lawrence, and considerable attention to sanctuaries in general and
their suitability to Labrador in particular. Moreover, I can plead
this most pressingly important fact, that a magnificent opportunity is
fast slipping away before our very eyes there, without a single effort
being made to seize it. I have repeatedly discussed the question with
those best qualified to give sound advice--with naturalists,
explorers, missionaries, fishermen, furriers, traders, hunters,
sportsmen, and many who are accustomed to look ahead into the higher
development of our public life. I have also read the books, papers and
reports written from up-to-date and first-hand knowledge. And, though
I have been careful to consult men who regard such questions from very
different points of view, and books showing quite as wide a general
divergence, I have found a remarkable consensus of opinion in favour
of establishing a system of sanctuaries before it is too late. I
should like to add that any information on the subject, or any
correction of what I have written here, will be most welcome. The
simple address, Quebec, will always find me. The only special point I
would ask correspondents to remember is that even the best
recommendations must be adapted to the peculiarities of the Labrador
problem, which is new, strange, immense, and full of complex human
factors.
Perhaps I might be allowed to explain that I speak simply as a
Canadian. I am not connected with any of the material interests
concerned. I do not even belong to a Fish and Game club. My only
object is to prove, from verifiable facts, that animal life in
Labrador is being recklessly and wantonly squandered, that this is
detrimental to everyone except the get-rich-quickly people who are
ready to destroy any natural resources forever in order to reap an
immediate and selfish advantage, that sanctuaries will better
conditions in every way, and that the ultimate benefit to Canada--both
in a material and a higher sense--will repay the small present expense
required, over and over again. And this repayment need not be long
deferred. I can show that once the public grasps the issues at stake
it will supply enough petitioners to move any government based on
popular support, and that the scheme itself will supply enough money
to make the sanctuaries a national asset of the most paying kind, and
enough higher human interest to make them priceless as a possession
for ourselves and a heritage for all who come after.
If, Sir, you would allow me to make one more preliminary explanation,
I should like to say that I have purposely left out all the usual
array of statistics. I have, of course, examined them carefully
myself, and based my arguments upon them. But I have excluded them
from my text because they would have made an already long paper unduly
longer, and because they are perfectly accessible to every member of
the Commission which I have the honour of addressing to-night.
SANCTUARIES.
A sanctuary may be defined as a place where Man is passive and the
rest of Nature active. Till quite recently Nature had her own
sanctuaries, where man either did not go at all or only as a
tool-using animal in comparatively small numbers. But now, in this
machinery age, there is no place left where man cannot go with
overwhelming forces at his command. He can strangle to death all the
nobler wild life in the world to-day. To-morrow he certainly will have
done so, unless he exercises due foresight and self-control in the
mean time. There is not the slightest doubt that birds and mammals are
now being killed off much faster than they can breed. And it is always
the largest and noblest forms of life that suffer most. The whales and
elephants, lions and eagles, go. The rats and flies, and all mean
parasites, remain. This is inevitable in certain cases. But it is
wanton killing off that I am speaking of to-night. Civilized man
begins by destroying the very forms of wild life he learns to
appreciate most when he becomes still more civilized. The obvious
remedy is to begin conservation at an earlier stage, when it is
easier and better in every way, by enforcing laws for close seasons,
game preserves, the selective protection of certain species, and
sanctuaries. I have just defined a sanctuary as a place where man is
passive and the rest of Nature active. But this general definition is
too absolute for any special case. The mere fact that man has to
protect a sanctuary does away with his purely passive attitude. Then,
he can be beneficially active by destroying pests and parasites, like
bot-flies or mosquitoes, and by finding antidotes for diseases like
the epidemic which periodically kills off the rabbits and thus starves
many of the carnivora to death. But, except in cases where experiment
has proved his intervention to be beneficial, the less he upsets the
balance of Nature the better, even when he tries to be an earthly
Providence.
In itself a sanctuary is a kind of wild "zoo," on a gigantic scale and
under ideal conditions. As such, it appeals to everyone interested in
animals, from the greatest zoologist to the mere holiday tourist.
Before concluding I shall give facts to show how well worth while it
would be to establish sanctuaries, even if there were no other people
to enjoy the benefits. Yet the strongest of all arguments is that
sanctuaries, far from conflicting with other interests, actually
further them. But unless we make these sanctuaries soon we shall be
infamous forever, as the one generation which defrauded posterity of
all the preservable wild life that Nature took a million years to
evolve into its present beautiful perfection. Only a certain amount of
animal life can exist in a certain area. The surplus must go outside.
So sanctuaries are more than wild "zoos", they are overflowing
reservoirs, fed by their own springs, and feeding streams of life at
every outlet. They serve not only those interested in animal life, but
those legitimately interested in animal death, for business, sport or
food. I might mention many instances of successful sanctuaries,
permanent or temporary, absolute or modified--the Algonquin, Rocky
Mountains, Yoho, Glacier, Jasper and Laurentides in Canada; the
Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canon, Olympus and Superior in the United
States; with the sea-lions of California, the wonderful revival of
ibex in Spain and deer in Maine and New Brunswick, the great preserves
in Uganda, India and Ceylon, the selective work of Baron von Berlepsch
in Germany, the curious result of taboo protection up the Nelson
river, and the effects on seafowl in cases as far apart in time and
space as the guano islands under the Incas of Peru, Gardiner island in
the United States or the Bass rock off the coast of Scotland.
Yet I do not ignore the difficulties. First, there is the universal
difficulty of introducing or enforcing laws where there have been no
operative laws before. Next, there is the difficulty of arousing
public opinion on any subject, however worthy, which requires both
insight and foresight. Then, we must remember that protected species
increasing beyond their special means of subsistence have to seek
other kinds of food, sometimes with unfortunate results. And then
there are the several special difficulties connected with Labrador.
There are three British governments concerned--Newfoundland, the
Dominion and the province of Quebec. There are French and American
fishermen along the shore. The proper protection of some migratory
species will require co-operation with the United States, perhaps with
Mexico and South America for certain birds, and even with Denmark for
the Greenland seal. Then, there are the Indians, the whole trade in
animal products, the necessity of not interfering with any legitimate
development, and the question of immediate expense, however small, for
a deferred benefit, however great and near at hand. And, finally, we
must remember that scientific knowledge is not by any means adequate
to deal with all the factors of the problem at once.
LABRADOR
But in spite of all these and many other difficulties, I firmly
believe that Labrador is by far the best country in the world for the
best kinds of sanctuary. The first time you're on a lee shore there,
in a full gale, you may well be excused for shrinking back from the
wild white line of devouring breakers. But when you actually make for
them you find the coast opening into archipelagoes of islands, to let
you safely through into the snug little "tickles," between island and
mainland, where you can ride out the storm as well as you could in a
landlocked harbour. This is typical of many another pleasant surprise.
Labrador decidedly improves on acquaintance. The fogs have been
grossly exaggerated. The Atlantic seaboard is clearer than the British
Isles, which, by the way, lie in exactly the same latitudes. And the
Gulf is far clearer than New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Banks. The
climate is exceptionally healthy, the air a most invigorating tonic,
and the cold no greater than in many a civilized northern land.
Besides, there is a considerable range of temperatures in a country
whose extreme north and south lie 1,000 miles apart, one in the
latitude of Greenland, the other in that of Paris. Taking the Labrador
peninsula geographically, as including the whole area east of a line
run up the Saguenay and on from lake St. John to James bay, it
comprises 560,000 square miles--eleven Englands! The actual residents
hardly number 20,000. About twice as many outsiders appear off the
coasts at certain seasons. So it would take a tenfold increase, afloat
and ashore, to make one human being to each square mile of land. But,
all the same, wild life needs conservation there, and needs it badly,
as we shall presently see.
Most of Labrador is a rocky tableland, still rising from the depths,
with some old beaches as much as 1,500 feet above the present level of
the sea. The St. Lawrence seaboard is famous for its rivers and
forests. The Atlantic seaboard has the same myriads of islands, is
magnificently bold, is pierced by fiords unexcelled in Norway, and
crowned by mountains higher than any others east of the Rockies.
Hamilton inlet runs in 150 miles. At Ramah the cliffs rise sheer three
thousand five hundred feet and more. The Four peaks, still untrodden
by the foot of man, rise more than twice as high again. And the
colouration, of every splendid hue, adds beauty to the grandeur of the
scene. Inland, there are lakes up to 100 miles long, big rivers by the
score, deep canyons and foaming rapids--to say nothing of the
countless waterfalls, of which the greatest equals two Niagaras. This
vast country is accessible by sea on three sides, and will soon be
accessible by land on the fourth. It lies directly half-way between
Great Britain and our own North West and is 1,000 miles nearer London
than New York is. Its timber, mines and water-power will be
increasingly exploited. It should also become increasingly attractive
to the best type of tourist, naturalist and sportsman. But supposing
all this does happen. The mines, water-powers and lumbering will only
create small towns and villages. There will surely be some
conservation to have the forests used and not abused especially by
fire: and the white man should remember that he is the worst of all in
turning a land from green to black. Except in the southwest and a few
isolated spots, the country cannot be farmed. At the same time, the
urban population must have communications with the outside world, by
which regular supplies can come in. This will make the settlers
independent of wild life for necessary food; and wild life, in any
case, would be too precarious if exploited in the usual way. The
traders in wild-animal products, as well as the naturalists, sportsmen
and tourists, are interested in keeping the rest of the country well
stocked. So that, one way and another, the human and wild-animal life
will not conflict, as they do where farming creates a widespread rural
population, or wanton destruction of forests ruins land and water, and
human and animal life have to suffer for it afterwards. All the
different places required for business spheres of influence in the
near future, added to all the business spheres of the present, can
hardly exceed the area of one whole England, especially if all
suitable areas are not thrown open simultaneously to lumbering, at the
risk of the usual bad results. So there will remain ten other
Englands, admirably fitted, in all respects, to grow wild life in the
most beneficial abundance, and quite able to do so indefinitely, if a
reasonable amount of general protection is combined with well-situated
sanctuaries.
The fauna is much more richly varied than people who think of
Labrador as nothing but an arctic barren are inclined to suppose. The
fisheries have been known for centuries, especially the cod, which has
a prerogative right to the simple word "fish." There are herring and
lobsters in the Gulf, plenty of salmon and trout in most of the
rivers, winninish in all the tributary waters of the Hamilton, as well
as in lake St. John, whitefish in the lakes, and so forth. Then, the
stone-carrying chub is one of the most interesting creatures in the
world.... But the fish and fisheries have problems of their own too
great for incidental treatment; and I shall pass on to the birds and
mammals.
Yet I must not forget the "flies"--who that has felt them once can
ever forget them? Labrador is not a very happy hunting-ground for the
entomologist. But all it lacks in variety of kinds it more than makes
up in number of individuals, especially in the detestable trio of
bot-flies, blackflies and mosquitoes. The bot-fly infests the caribou
and will probably infest the reindeer. The blackfly and mosquito
attack both man and beast in maddening millions. The mosquito is not
malarious. But that is the only bad thing he is not. Destruction is
"conservation" so far as "flies," parasites and disease germs are
concerned.
Labrador has over 200 species of birds, from humming-birds and
sanderlings to eagles, gannets, loons and herons. Among those able to
hold their own, with proper encouragement, are the following: two
loons, two murres, the puffin, guillemot, razor-billed auk, dovekie
and pomarine jaeger; six gulls--ivory, kittiwake, glaucous, great
black-back, herring and Bonaparte; two terns--arctic and common; the
fulmar, two shearwaters, two cormorants, the red-breasted merganser
and the gannet; seven ducks--the black, golden-eye, old squaw and
harlequin, with the American, king and Greenland eiders; three
scoters; four geese--snow, blue, brant and Canada; two phalaropes,
several sandpipers, with the Hudsonian godwit and both yellowlegs; two
snipes; five plovers; and the Eskimo and Hudsonian curlews. These two
curlews should be absolutely closed to all shooting everywhere for
several seasons. They are on the verge of extinction; and it may even
now be too late to save them. The great blue heron and American
bittern are not common, but less rare than they are supposed to be.
Except for the willow and rock ptarmigans the land game-birds are not
many in kind or numbers. There are a fair number of ruffed grouse in
the south, and more spruce grouse in the north. The birds of prey are
well represented by a few golden and more bald-headed eagles, the
American rough-legged and other hawks, the black and the white
gyrfalcons, the osprey, and eight owls, including the great horned
owl, the boldest bird of all. The raven is widely distributed all the
year round. Several woodpeckers, kingfishers, jays, bluebird,
kingbird, chickadee, snow bunting; several sparrows, including,
fortunately, the white-crowned, white-throat and song, but now,
unfortunately, the English as well. There are blackbirds, red-polls, a
dozen warblers, the American robin, hermit thrush and ruby-throated
humming-bird.
Both the land and sea mammals are of great importance. Several whales
are well known. The Right is almost exterminated; but the Greenland,
or Bow-head, is found along the edge of the ice in all Hudsonian
waters. The Pollock is rare, and the Sperm, or Cachalot, as nearly
exterminated as the Right. But the Little-piked, or _rostrata_, is
found inshore along the north and east, the Bottle-nose on the north,
the Humpback on the east and south; and the Finback and Sulphur-bottom
are common and widely distributed, especially on the east. The Little
White whale, or "White porpoise," is fairly common all round; the
Killer is widely distributed, but most numerous on the east, where the
Narwhal is also found. The Harbour and Striped porpoises, and the
Common and Bottle-nosed dolphins, are chiefly on the east and south.
There are six Seals--the Harbour, Ringed, Harp, Bearded, Grey and
Hooded. The Harbour seal is also called the "Common" and the "Wise"
seal, and is the _vitulina_ of zoology. It is common all round the
coasts, and the Indians of the interior assert that many live
permanently in the lakes. Big and Little Seal lakes are more than 100
miles from the nearest salt water. The Ringed seal is locally called
"floe rat" and "gum seal." It is the smallest and least valuable of
all, and fairly common all round. The Harp seal is "seal," in the same
way as cod is "fish." It has various local names, five among the
French-Canadians alone, but is specifically known as the Greenland
seal. The young, immediately after birth, have a fine white coat,
which makes them valuable. The herds are followed on a large scale at
the end of the winter season, which is also the whelping season, and
hundreds of thousands are killed, females and young preponderating.
They are still common along the east and south, but diminishing
steadily, especially in the St. Lawrence. The Bearded, or
"Square-flipper," seal is rare in the St. Lawrence and on the
Atlantic, but commoner in Hudsonian waters. It is a large seal, eight
feet long, and bulky in proportion. The Grey, or Horse-head, seal
runs up to about the same size occasionally and is one of the gamest
animals that swims. It is rare on the Atlantic and not common anywhere
on the St. Lawrence. The "Hoods" are the largest of all and the lions
of the lot. They run up to 1,000 pounds and over, and sometimes
fourteen feet long. They are rare on the Atlantic and decreasing along
the St. Lawrence, owing to the Newfoundland hunters. The Walrus,
formerly abundant all round, is now rarely seen except in the far
north, where he is fast decreasing.
Moose may feel their way in by the southwest to an increasing extent,
and might possibly be reinforced by the Alaskan variety. Red deer
might possibly be induced to enter by the same way in fair numbers
over a limited area. The woodland caribou is almost exterminated, but
might be resuscitated. The barren-ground caribou is still plentiful in
the north, where most of the herds appear to migrate in an immense
ellipse, crossing from west to east, over the barrens, in the fall, to
the Atlantic, and then turning south and west through the woods in
winter, till they reach their original starting-point near Hudson bay
in the spring. But this is not to be counted on. The herds divide,
change direction, and linger in different places. Their tame brother,
the reindeer, is being introduced as the chief domestic animal of
Eastern Labrador, with apparently every prospect of success. Beaver
are fairly common and widely distributed in forested areas. Other
rodents are frequent--squirrels, musk-rats, mice, voles, lemmings,
hares and porcupines. There are two bats. Black bears are general;
polars, in the north. Grizzlies have been traded at Fort Chimo in
Ungava, but they are probably all killed out. The lynx is common
wherever there are woods. There are two wolves, arctic and timber, the
latter now rare in the south. The Labrador red fox is very common in
the woods, and the "white," or arctic fox, in the barrens and further
south on both coasts. The "cross," "silver" and "black" variations of
course occur, as they naturally increase towards the northern limits
of range. The "blue" is a seasonal change of the "white." The
wolverine and otter are common. The skunk is only known in the
southwest. The mink ranges through the southern third of the
peninsula. The Labrador marten, or "sable," is a sub-species,
generally distributed in the forested parts, like the weasel. The
"fisher," or Pennant's marten, is much more local, ranging only
between the "North Shore" and Mistassini.
From the St. Lawrence to the Barren Grounds three-fourths of the land
has been burnt over since the white man came. The resultant loss of
all forms of life may be imagined, especially when we remember that
the fire often burns up the very soil itself, leaving nothing but
rocks and black desolation. Still, there is plenty of fur and feather
worth preserving. But nothing can save it unless conservation replaces
the present reckless destruction.
DESTRUCTION
When rich virgin soil is first farmed it yields a maximum harvest for
a minimum of human care. But presently it begins to fail, and will
fail altogether unless man returns to it in one form some of the
richness he expects to get from it in another. Now, exploited wild
life fails even faster under wasteful treatment; but, on the other
hand, with hardly any of the trouble required for continuous farming,
quickly recovers itself by being simply let alone. So when we consider
how easily it can be preserved in Labrador, and how beneficial its
preservation is to all concerned, we can understand how the wanton
destruction going on there is quite as idiotic as it is wrong.
Take "egging" as an example. The Indians, Eskimos and other beasts of
prey merely preserved the balance of nature by the toll they used to
take. No beast of prey, not even the white man, will destroy his own
stock supply of food. But with the nineteenth century came the
white-man market "eggers", systematically taking or destroying every
egg in every place they visited. Halifax, Quebec and other towns were
centres of the trade. The "eggers" increased in numbers and
thoroughness till the eggs decreased in the more accessible spots
below paying quantities. But other egging still goes on unchecked. The
game laws of the province of Quebec distinctly state: "It is forbidden
to take nests or eggs of wild birds at any time". But the swarms of
fishermen who come up the north shore of the St. Lawrence egg wherever
they go. If they are only to stay in the same spot for a day or two,
they gather all the eggs they can, put them into water, and throw away
every one that floats. Sometimes three, four, five or even ten times
as many are thrown away as are kept, and all those bird lives lost for
nothing. Worse still, if the men are going to stay long enough they
will often go round the nests and make sure of smashing every single
egg. Then they come back in a few days and gather every single egg,
because they know it has been laid in the mean time and must be
fresh. When we remember how many thousands of men visit the shore, and
that the resident population eggs on its own account, at least as high
up as the Pilgrims, only 100 miles from Quebec, we need not be
prophets to foresee the inevitable end of all bird life when subjected
to such a drain. And this is on the St. Lawrence, where there are laws
and wardens and fewer fishermen. What about the Atlantic Labrador,
where there are no laws, no wardens, many more fishermen, and ruthless
competitive egging between the residents and visitors? Of course,
where people must egg or starve there is nothing more to be said. But
this sort of egging is very limited, not enough to destroy the birds,
and the necessity for it will become less frequent as other sources of
supply become available. It is the utterly wanton destruction that is
the real trouble.