Hunting & Stalking Deer throughout the World [antikvár]

IntroductionOf the forty living species of deer in the world which represent just under 200 subspecies, no fewer than twenty-five of the former and over eighty of the latter are indigenous to Asia. Sadly, many of these deer are now included in the Red Data Book of the I.U.C.N. (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) as being either endangered, vulnerable or rare, and even if their native habitat was open for hunting, until their numbers had recovered to permit some limited harvesting, none should be considered as game by the trophy hunter.Already during the past fifty years, the unique deer of Thailand - the beautiful Schomburgk's deer Cervus schomburgki has become extinct, and the world population of at least one species - the Persian Fallow deer Dama dama mesopotamica - reduced to under a hundred, with several other species below the thousand mark. When population levels reach these figures, the point of no-return is not far off, and the hunter must respect this fact.Many of the deer of northern India, Tibet and China are much reduced in numbers to what they were at the beginning of the century, and in almost every case the reason has been the same - over-hunting and loss of habitat, the former undoubtedly made more effective by the accuracy of the modern firearm. It has not been sport hunting, however, that has been a major factor, but the slaughter of stags - particularly of the genus Cervus - whilst their antlers are in velvet, for the latter, ground up and dried, are used in the preparation of an aphrodisiac one of which is called Pantocrin. In recent years, however, it has been found possible to farm deer for the sole purpose of producing antlers which can be harvested without the stag having to be killed - an operation which cannot, of course, be done with the wild deer, but one which, unfortunately, must involve considerable pain, for the growing antler is then at its most sensitive state. So great is the demand for antler velvet that deer farms are being set up in many parts of the world outside Asia, and deer farming is already big business in New Zealand and is starting to develop in Europe.Whilst one cannot condone a practice that involves any cruelty to a living animal, so long as the demand for antler velvet persists, deer farming may, fortunately, take the pressure off hunting - and killing - the wild herds and