What is Happening to the Wildlife of South America

Abstract

In 1964 Ambassador Philip K. Crowe, who is a member of the Board of the US section of the World Wildlife Fund, visited seven South American countries to survey the wildlife situation for the Fund. This article is compiled, with his kind permission, from the newsletters that he wrote on his journeys. All too often he found that if an animal is edible or useful it is shot. Even the guano birds of Peru have declined seriously with the discovery that it is more profitable to convert the fish on which they depend for food into fish meal. But there are some hopeful exceptions, notably in Venezuela. Chief among the problems in all the states is the enforcement of such protection laws as do exist, and the author sees in education the only hope for conservation in South America.