natural forest habitat than remained on the island), the other four extirpated mammals should have been able to survive in the remnants of forest and other habitat that were left on the island. In Europe the marten and the otter have been able to survive in landscapes greatly altered by human activity, and in association with as high or even higher human population densities than on Prince Edward Island“. And had there not been active hostility towards them, it is even possible that the lynx and the bear could also have survived‘eo.

It is thus evident that it was the attitude and actions of the island’s human population that caused the extinctions of all four: a positive hostility to the lynx and the bear (understandable in the light of their predation on livestock), and an indifference to the survival of the otter and the marten, so that the necessary protections were never instituted. Had attitudes been different, had there been a greater tolerance of the occasional loss to the bear and the lynx, as well as a greater concern to protect all of the species from uncontrolled trapping and shooting, I think that all four species could have survived.

We now live in an era of very different attitudes to wildlife. Whereas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and even up to the 19705, the prevailing attitude towards predators was hostile and utilitarian, now governments enact laws in the other direction: where predators still survive, it is the responsibility of government to protect and conserve them, and in some areas, predators that once had a bounty on their heads are even being re—introduced to areas from which they were deliberately exterminated, a good example being the re—introduction of the wolf to Yellowstone Park in the United States. This is not to say that the attitude of everyone has changed: there is still a great deal of hostility towards predators — as witness the general attitude on the island to the recently colonizing coyote.

‘59 In the British Isles the otter, under protection from the

persecution of the past, is expanding its range in many parts of England (Jefferies 1989). The marten survives in both Great Britain and Ireland (Corbet & Southern 1977).

16° According to Anon. (2003): “As long as they are not disturbed", lynx are reported to be “remarkably tolerant of human settlement” an example being a partly-cleared mixed-farming area in central Alberta, where, though a few are shot in farmyards, there is no intensive trapping (see also Poole (2003)). As for the bear, the last bears on Prince Edward Island must have indeed been secretly co- habiting with the human population up to 1927, some fifty years after the peak of forest clearance and human population density on the island.

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It is unlikely that any of the extirpated species will ever naturally re-colonise Prince Edward Island — the barrier of the Northumberland Strait is likely to be too great for any of them to overcome. Thus if any do return, it will only be because of their deliberate re-introduction. The re-introduction of either the bear or the lynx might present problems in terms of the available habitat, though it may be noted that the proportion of the island covered by woodland has increased from a low of 32% in 1935 to 49% in 1992. A greater problem would be the attitude of the human population, even though livestock and poultry rearing are now very much minority elements in the farming landscape. The re—introduction of the marten and the otter has a greater potential, and both species have been subject to a number of re—introductions in various parts of their former range‘“. However, the re- introduction of either of these predators would be a costly operation in terms of the research and logistical support required, and the island is not likely to be a priority area for such a program. There would also be for the otter the potential of conflict with angling and shell-fishery interests. And either species could only be re-introduced if they were given full protection from trapping and shooting, including the possibility of being caught as by-catches by trappers. It would thus require a total ban on all trapping in the areas of their introduction. Both the will and the resources

would have to be there before any such re- introductions were contemplated.

REFERENCES ACCDC (2004) Species Rarity Ranks: Prince Edward Island Vertebrates. Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre, Sackville N.B.

Consulted at website: [http://www.accdc.com]

Anon. (2003) The Canada lynx. Hinterland Who’s Who. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada. [On web at: www.hww.ca]

Banfield, A. W. F. (1974) The Mammals of Canada. University of Toronto Press.

Bumsted, J. M. (1986) Thomas Halliday, Mary Cochrane, the Earl of Selkirk, and the Island. The Island Magazine, 19: 27—32.

Cameron, A. W. (1958) Mammals of the Islands In the Gulf of St. Lawrence. National Museum of

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E.g. Moruzzi et al. (2003); Jefferies (1989).