The Great Auk: An Extinct Species
The Great Auk: An Extinct Species
The Great Auk: An Extinct Species
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nesting islands and sailors would herd hundreds of them along a<br />
plank to the ships’ decks. Some of the birds were killed and eaten<br />
immediately. Some were killed and preserved in salt to be eaten<br />
later. Sometimes the auks were kept alive in the ships’ hulls to<br />
serve as fresh meat later in the voyages. <strong>The</strong> fact they were edible<br />
contributed to auk’s extinction too.<br />
Controlling <strong>The</strong> Slaughter<br />
(8) Although the <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong> was hunted relentlessly and in great<br />
numbers from the beginning of 16th century, the effects of the<br />
slaughter were not noticed until two hundred years later –– and<br />
even then no serious efforts were made to protect them from<br />
jeopardy. In 1775, the government of Nova Scotia asked <strong>Great</strong><br />
Britain to ban the killing of auks. This was done. <strong>An</strong>yone caught<br />
killing auks for feathers or taking their eggs for food was whipped in<br />
public. Fishermen, however, were still allowed to use the bird as<br />
bait and so the auks’ numbers continued to decline.<br />
(9) Other large <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Auk</strong><br />
colonies in Iceland were<br />
being raided for food, oil<br />
and feathers too. <strong>The</strong><br />
Icelanders harvested the<br />
birds in rotation. This<br />
means they killed large<br />
numbers of birds one year<br />
and then left the colony<br />
alone the next to enable<br />
their numbers to increase.<br />
Eventually, though, the<br />
hunting pressure became<br />
too great and Icelandic populations declined. Only when the birds<br />
© Prepared by Jim Cornish, Gander, Newfoundland, 2003. -3