With their horns locked in a death struggle as the result of a fight over a mate, these elk were found in Pisgah
National Forest near Brevard, N. C. They had died of starvation after having been unable to extricate their
antlers. The trampled and torn underbrush about the scene testified eloquently to the ferocity of the duel.
Wild Life In Western Carolina
Much progress lias been made in restoring
a number of species that were about to be¬
come extinct in the mountainous section of
the State.
OF the wild life that is being re¬
stored to the woodlands of west¬
ern North Carolina, one of the
most desirable members is the elk,
which is slowly increasing in numbers
in I’isgah National Forest. Every
protection is being thrown around
these large, graceful animals in the
hope that they can regain the high
place they held before ruthless hunt¬
ing depleted the stock.
With the exception of the moose,
all of game and fur-boaring animal
families of eastern America are, or
By JAMES B. IIICKLIX
were, residents of western North
Carolina, according to Dr. I.
1Г.
Sims,
of the Appalachian Forest Experi¬
ment Station at Asheville. Bison,
panther and a few other families have
disappeared. Likewise, the beaver
was exterminated, but an effort to re¬
store this animal is also being made,
with some degree of success.
Black bear and deer are the most
spectacular of the wild life of the
mountains. There are red and grey
foxes, raccoons, opossums, skunks,
groundhogs, cotton-tail rabbits, grey
and red squirrels, many rodents and
many ground squirrels, bats, shrews,
minks, weasels, muskrats, cats and
their relatives.
The smallest of the rodent section
of the society is the shrew, about the
size of a large lead pencil and ubout
one and one-half inches long. The
shrew, both insectivorous and carni¬
vorous, has a reputation for being
