Cincinnati (1914). The Columbus medical doctor, John Maynard Wheaton was a founder of the American Ornithological Union and author of two important works on Ohios birds. Wheaton was not immune however to the prevailing lack of understanding of ecology and extinction. In his 1860 Catalogue of the Birds of Ohio he comments on the 1857 landmark Ohio legislation that provided the first real protections for select game birds, song birds and mammals. Among his comments was a terse and blunt sentence: The passenger pigeon needs no protection. Attesting to Wheatons lack of judgment, the last documented wild passenger pigeon was shot in Ohio in 1900. Martha became the last of her species when she died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.
Buttons, the last documented wild passenger, can be seen on exhibit at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus.Further Reading: Ohio History Central: The Passenger Pigeon Catalogue of the birds of Ohio. 1860. J.M. Wheaton. “From the Ohio agricultural report for 1860.” P 359-380. Report on the birds of Ohio. 1879. J.M. Wheaton. From Report of the Geological Survey of Ohio. 628 pp. American Museum of Natural History. Martha, the last ever, is now at the Smithsonian in Washington, D. C.
Number 10: Ohio Antiquities are Treasured in London Number 9: Rhodes Road to Canada Number 8: Newark Board of Trade Finds a Curious Way to Save an Earthwork Number 7: Presidents and Generals First Number 6: Traitor Runs for Governor
