OPINIONS OF OTHER WITNESSES. 505 



I think if all pelagic seal hunting was stopped Michael Wooslcoot, p. 

 seal would soon become plentiful on the coast. 27 °- 



And unless they are stopped from hunting them 

 in schooners, the seal, like the sea-otter, will soon Bl "^ Yeltafll 'J' P- 30 - 

 be all gone. 



Opinions of Other Witnesses. 



Page 248 of The Case. 



And should pelagic sealing in the North Pacific and Tiering Sea con- 

 tinue, it is only a question of a very few years 

 when seal in these seas, and especially at the seal W. C. Coulson, p. 415. 

 islands, will be a thing of the past, for they are 

 being rapidly destroyed by the killing of females in the open sea. 



If the seal life is to be preserved for commercial purposes, the seals 

 must be protected, not only in the Bering Sea, 

 but in the water along the Pacific coast from the W. C. Coulson, p. 416. 

 Aleutian Passes to the Columbia River. 



I believe the days of the fur-seal are pretty much over, and if the 

 remnant is to be saved, they must be protected in 

 the waters of the North Pacific as well as in those Leander Cox, p. 417. 

 of Bering Sea, from the riile and shotgun of the 



hunter. I am of the opinion that it will take careful nursing for some 

 years, under the most favorable circumstances, to restore the number 

 of seals to anything like what it was prior to 1S7S. 



I have had ample opportunity to form an opinion in regard to the 

 effect upon the herd of the killing of female seals. 

 The female brings forth a single offspring annu- W. H. Ball, p. 24. 

 ally, and hence the repair of the loss by death is 



not rapid. It is evident that the injury to tl\e herd from the killing of 

 a single female, that is, the producer, is far greater than from the death 

 of a male, as the seal is polygamous in habit. The danger to the herd, 

 therefore, is just in proportion to the destruction of female life. Kill- 

 ing in the open waters is peculiarly destructive to this animal. No 

 discrimination of sex in the water is possible, the securing of the prey 

 when killed is, under the best of circumstances, uncertain, and as the 

 period of gestation is at least eleven months, and of nursing three or 

 four months, the death of a female at any time means the destruction 

 of two, herself and the foetus, or, when nursing, of three, herself, the 

 nursing pup, and the foetus. Ail killing of females is a menace to the 

 herd, and as soon as such killing reaches the point, as it inevitably 

 must if permitted to continue, where the annual increase will not make 

 good the yearly loss, then the destruction of the herd will be equally 

 rapid and certain, regarded from a commercial standpoint, though a 

 few individuals might survive. 



I have conversed with a great many persons who have been engaged 

 in sealing in the northern waters, and their uni- 

 form testimony is to the effect that the open sea jas.R. Douglass, p. 419. 

 hunting is rapidly destroying the fur-seals, and 



that it is only a question of a few years until they entirely disappear if 

 the pelagic sealing continues. 



