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 | 3 | Gnu |
| 2 | Rhinoceros | 12 | Grant Gazelle |
| 2 | Hippopotamus | 4 | Waller's Gazelle |
| 1 | Eland | 10 | Harvey's Duiker |
| 2 | Grevy Zebra | 10 | Isaac's Duiker |
| 20 | Common Zebra | 10 | Blue Duiker |
| 2 | Fringe-eared Oryx | 10 | Kirk's Dik-dik |
| 4 | Beisa Antelope | 10 | Guenther's Dik-dik |
| 4 | Waterbuck | 10 | Hinde's Dik-dik |
| 1 | Sable Antelope | 10 | Cavendish Dik-dik |
| 1 | Roan Antelope | 10 | Abyssinian Oribi |
| 1 | Greater Kudu | 10 | Haggard's Oribi |
| 4 | Lesser Kudu | 10 | Kenya Oribi |
| 10 | Topi | 10 | Suni |
| 20 | Coke Hartebeest | 10 | Klipspringer |
| 2 | Neumann Hartebeest | 10 | Ward's Reedbuck |
| 4 | Jackson Hartebeest | 10 | Chanler's Reedbuck |
| 6 | Hunter's Antelope | 10 | Thompson Gazelle |
| 4 | Thomas Kob | 10 | Peters Gazelle |
| 2 | Bongo | 10 | Soemmerring Gazelle |
| 4 | Pallah | 10 | Bushbuck |
| 2 | Sitatunga | 10 | Haywood Bushbuck |
The grand total is a possible 300 large hoofed and horned animals representing 44 species! Add to this all the lions, leopards, cheetahs, cape hunting dogs and hyaenas that the hunter can kill, and it will be enough to stock a zoological garden!
Quite a number of these species, like the sable antelope, kudu, Hunter's antelope, bongo and sitatunga are already rare, and therefore they are all the more eagerly sought.
Into the fine grass-lands of British East Africa, suitable for crops and stock grazing, settlers are steadily going. Each one is armed, and at once becomes a killer of big game. And all the time the visiting sportsmen are increasing in number, going farther from the Uganda Railway, and persistently seeking out the rarest and finest of the game. The buffalo has recovered from the slaughter by rinderpest only in time to meet the onset of oversea sportsmen.
Mr. Arthur Jordan has seen much of the big game of British East Africa, and its killing. Him I asked to tell me how long, in his opinion, the big game of that territory will last outside of the game preserves, as it is now being killed. He said, "Oh, it will last a long time. I think it will last fifteen years!"
Fifteen years! And this for the richest big-game fauna of any one spot in the whole world, which Nature has been several million years in developing and placing there!
At present the marvelous herds of big game of British East Africa and Uganda constitute the grandest zoological spectacle that the world ever has seen in historic times. For such an area, the number of species is incredible, and until they are seen, the thronging masses of individuals are beyond conception. It is easy to say "a herd of 3,000 zebras;" but no mere words can give an adequate impression of the actual army of stripes and bars, and hoofs thundering in review over a grassy plain.
But the settlers say, "The zebras must go! They break through our best wire fences, ruin our crops, despoil us of the fruits of long and toilsome efforts, and much expenditure. We simply can not live in a country inhabited by herds of wild zebras." And really, their contention is well founded. When it is necessary to choose between wild animals and peaceful agriculture for millions of men, the animals must give way.