236 



FUR-SEAL HEED OF ALASKA. 



when the seals killed are limited to (J^ 

 pounds, in order to exclude all these 3- 

 year-olds bra,nded during the summer, 

 you understand the natives do kill down 

 a little more closely than our regulations 

 allow, for the reason that they need the 

 meat, and since they have to exclude all 

 these fine, fat seals over 6J pounds they 

 go for the little fellows a little more 

 closely. 



"The (Jhairmax. liow many seals were 

 killed last year for food by the natives? 



''Mr. Lembkky. The limit v.'as 2,500. 

 Speaking offhand, 1 think about 2,300 

 were killed. 



"Q. Wereany females killed?— A. No, 

 sir; not to my knowledge, and, as 1 stated, 

 I carefully interrogated these two gentle- 

 men who had charge of this killing, and 

 they stated that to their knowledge no 

 female was killed. 



"Q. What class of males were killed by 

 the nati^■es for food? — A. Under 61 

 pounds." ("Hearinir No. 14, p. 907, Julv 

 25, 1912, ir. Com. Exj). De])t. C. & L.) * 



Lembkey swears tluit he re- 

 serves from slaughter 1,000 

 3-year-old seals every year, be- 

 fore any killing; begins for the 

 season in June. 



Mr. Lembkey. Before any killing was 

 done this summer, as has been the prac- 

 tice for some years past following the 

 bureau's instructions, 1,000 of the 

 choicest 3-year-olds appearing in the first 

 drives of the season were reserved for 

 future breeders and marked by shearing 

 their heads, so as to render their subse- 

 quent recognition during the season an 

 easy matter. These seals, thus marked, 

 were immune from clubbing and were not 

 killed. These 3-year-old seals the follow- 

 ing year became 4-year-olds, the killing 

 of which class in general is prohibited. 

 Only after the 1,000 3-year-olds, known 

 as the breeding reserve, is secured and 

 marked does the killing of seals for skins 

 begin. The kilting is confined only to 

 the 2 and 3 year old immature males not 

 required for ]:)urposes of reproduction. 

 To obtain these, the breeding rookeries 

 are not disturbed, but the bachelors' 

 hauling grounds on either island were 

 driven every fifth or sixth day if seals 

 were found thereon in sufficient numbers 

 to justify driving. The killing season 

 begins on July 1 and ends July 31, but 

 one drive is always made subsequently 

 on August 10 to furnish the natives with 

 fresh meat during a portion of the so- 

 called '"stagey" season (when the seals 

 shed their hair), which begins August 10 

 and ends October 20, and during which 

 no killing is done. (Hearing No. 9. pp. 



"[Instructions issued Mar. 31, 1911.] 

 "Identical with instructions of 1910." 



Mr. Lembkey. We have found on the 

 island that the most reliable way of gaug- 

 ing seal skins so as to classify them into 

 differeJit ages is that of weight — of weigh- 

 ing the skins. We have very reliable 

 data showdng that 2-year-olds seldom if 

 ever weigh lees than 5 pounds, and we also 

 have data which give us the information 

 that the skins of 3-year-olds weigh from 

 6^ to 8^ pounds. Upon that basis we 

 have established our regulations. (Hear- 

 ing No. 9, p. 398: Hearing No. 10, pp 

 483-486, Apr. 19, 1912, H. Com. Exp. 

 Dept. C. & L.) 



But Clark reports that these 

 reserved seals in June are all sub- 

 sequently killed, and tells how 

 they are so taken. 



3. The reserve of bachelors. — Beginning 

 with the season of 1904, there has been set 

 aside each spring a special breeding re- 

 serve of 2,000 young males of 2 and 3 years 

 of age. These animals have been marked 

 by clipping the head with sharp shears, 

 giving them a whitish mark readily dis- 

 tinguishing them to the clubbers. They 

 are carefully exempted on the killing 

 field and released. 



This method of creating a breeding 

 reserve seems open to considerable criti- 

 cism, and has apparently been only 

 moderately successful. The mark put 

 upon the animal is a temporary one. The 

 fur is replaced during the fall and winter, 

 and the following spring the marked seals 

 can not be recognized. The animals 

 being 2 and 3 years of age are still killable 

 the next season, the 2-year-olds in fact 

 the second season. A new lot of 2,000 is 

 clipped the next season, and these are 

 carefully exempted, but, except in so far 

 as animals of the previous season's mark- 

 ing are reclipped, they have no protection 

 the second .season, and without doubt are 

 killed. 



If such is not the case, it is difficult to 

 understand what becomes of them. The 

 annual reservation from 1904 to 1907, both 

 seasons included, would aggregate 8,000 

 animals. These animals would be of ages 

 ranging from 8 to 5 years this season. The 

 only animals present in 1909 which could 



