The reason for
establishing a wildlife refuge is to provide protection for
animals that have become reduced in number. The other motive
is to improve the habitat so that animals will breed
and grow in number.
Traditionally, a wildlife
refuge has been a marked area of land or water on which hunting,
trapping, trespassing and fishing are forbidden
or restricted. Most wildlife refuges are established under
governmental programs. But some are established by private
individuals and organizations. The first federal refuges was
established in Florida by executive order of President Theodore
Roosevelt. This refuge, intended to protect brown pelicans. A large
number of federal refuges have managers trained in wildlife ecology
or forestry.
Migratory bird
refuges account for three-fourths of all refuges established. Concern
for the waterfowl population has resulted in breeding and
wintering refuges. The national wildlife refuge in North Dakota is a
good example of preservation of a waterfowl breeding habitat. The
Illinois River bottom was established as a flyway refuge where
waterfowl could find food and protection while migrating to
traditional wintering grounds.
Refuges also exist for
endangered species such as the whooping crane, which
find protection at its winter home in the Arkansas Refuge of Texas.
The key deer in Florida benefits from the the Key Deer Refuge there
and the desert bighorn sheep finds protection in refuge of
southern Nevada.
National refuges exist in
Africa, protecting such game as elephants and lions and also
lesser-known, rare species of animals. Such refuges also have been
established in India, Indonesia and numerous other regions worldwide.
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