The Days of a Man 



[1898 



Killing of 

 superflu- 

 ous males 



stock in these arguments, but his successor, William 

 C. Redfield, seemed to accept them uncritically. 

 And yet every scientific expert who studied the 

 situation, steadfast lovers of wild life though all 

 were, persistently urged the killing of superfluous 

 males. 



For this there were two reasons already amply 

 implied. The first was that if the herds ceased to 



J t/t,L4-H,J * 1 1 ' ' 1111 



necessity yield economic return, no nation would undertake 

 the cost of guarding them, and without protection 

 both on land and sea the most interesting species 

 of Inarine animals would soon be exterminated by 

 illicit raids. Unfortunately, most of the herds of 

 the related Antarctic genus - - Arctocepbalus - - have 

 suffered that fate as well as the small but interest- 

 ing herd of Guadalupe Island, previously mentioned, 

 and the three small herds of the Kuriles. A second 

 reason, also important, was that many females and 

 young are killed or injured in the constant forays 

 of idle bulls. For, as I have said, the sexes being 

 numerically equal, males are vastly in excess of the 

 needs of the polygamous herd. 1 



1 Hanna's record for 1916 shows that 2482 pups, 79 cows, and 12 bulls were 

 killed in the raids of that year. Casualties in 1912 (before the number of bulls 

 had unduly increased) amounted to 1060 pups, 27 cows, and 3 bulls. As to this 

 Clark observes: 



"The deaths in 1912 were what might be considered normal and inevitable. 

 In that season there were only 113 idle bulls, and the fighting was a negligible 

 factor. The deaths occurred as a result of accidents inherent in the crowded 

 condition of harem life. In 1916, however, we find the deaths among bulls 

 quadrupled; among cows, almost trebled, and among pups increased 134 per 

 cent. Moreover, this is with only between two and three thousand idle bulls 

 What will be the result when the 60,000 to 70,00x3 idle bulls begin six to eight 

 years hence to bring their pressure to bear upon the breeding grounds? . . . 



"The bull fur seal is an animal of about 500 pounds' weight; his mates are 

 animals of 80 pounds' weight; the pup at birth is a weak thing of 12 pounds. 

 The harem life of the seals is crowded at best and subject to commotion. The 

 mother seal takes no thought of the time and place of labor. Newly born pups 

 are trampled and smothered under the best of circumstances. Anything which 



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