BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 10, 2025
Maine looks different today than it did before Europeans arrived. Its wildlife has changed, with some species suffering heavily from hunting and habitat loss. Native peoples coexisted with nature. For European settlers nature was to be subdued. Overharvesting of game species and the elimination of predators were inevitable. Wolverines disappeared soon after statehood. A bounty was placed on wolves in 1838, and they were extirpated within five decades. The last caribou was shot on Katahdin in 1908. The last known eastern cougar was shot in 1938. The last known pair of great auks was shot off the coast of Iceland in 1844. The same fate befell Atlantic puffins. By 1850, all of Maine’s heath hens were gone. In 1878, the Labrador duck was the first species unique to North America to go extinct. Common eiders teetered on extinction off New England and Maritime Canada but recovered somewhat after hunting limits were enacted in the early 20th century. Maine’s original population of wild turkeys was eliminated by the 1870s. Eventually, the wanton destruction of so much wildlife shocked Americans into action. Laws prohibited market hunting. Treaties protected migrating birds. In 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act. Many of these protections are currently being rolled back in Washington. It seems we haven’t learned our lesson. ~ Bob Duchesne