134 American Fisheries Society 



critical moment arrives, will be to propose a return to the 

 old method of having the killing done by lessees, instead 

 of by the government. 



Among other charges the charge was made that the 

 Bureau of Fisheries had been killing pup seals. A part of 

 the annual catch made on the Pribilof Islands was classified 

 in the printed catalogue of London sales as "pups," "small 

 pups," and "extra small pups." It was shown by officers 

 of the Bureau that these terms, long used in the fur trade, 

 did not mean either yearlings, gray pups or new-born pups, 

 and skins duly certified by furriers as "pups," "small pups," 

 and "extra small pups" were shown to the House Com- 

 mittee. They were actually skins of various sizes of two 

 and three-years-olds. In spite of the facts presented, the 

 baseless outcry of the seal lobby against "pup killing" won 

 out. 



The surplus males of the polygamous fur seal have long 

 been killed on the Pribilofs, because they were actually a 

 surplus, not required for breeding purposes. The outcry 

 against "pup killing," even if there had been such killing, 

 is utterly senseless. If the skins of a lot of bull calves 

 should be found to be worth as much as could be realized 

 from the sale of an equal number of full grown steers, would 

 any stock breeder think of raising them? 



The age at which surplus males of either seals or cattle 

 are killed does not matter so long as they are disposed of 

 when most profitable, provided sufficient males are saved 

 for breeding. 



Very fortunately for the fur seal, the ten-year closed sea- 

 son proposed by the seal lobby fell through. Although 

 Congress had no clear understanding of the fur seal situa- 

 tion, it could understand that a ten-year closed season on 

 males would mean the loss to the Treasury in ten years of 

 fifteen millions of dollars. Just what will be done later on 

 to rid the breeding grounds of their hordes of big fighting 

 bulls remains to be seen. The saving of the entire stock of 



