ALASKAN HERD. 249 



have no hesitation in saying that if the fur-seal Opinions of 



other witnesses. 



species is to be saved from extinction, all pelagic 

 sealing must cease." ^ Dr. H. H. Mclntyre, after 

 twenty years of careful study of the habits and 

 condition of the seal herd, necessitated by his 

 position as resident superintendent of the Alaska 

 Commercial Company on the Pi'ibilof Islands, 

 says: ^'I am fully convinced, from my knowl- 

 edge of seal matters, that if this indiscriminate 

 and reckless destruction of the Pribilof seal herd 

 continues as it has done in tlie past six j^-ears in 

 Bering Sea and the North Pacific, the seals will 

 be practically exterminated in a very few years, 

 even if the United States Government should not 

 allow any seals to be taken on the Pribilof 

 Islands, for the destruction of females in the 

 water has reached a number that can not be met 

 by the annual increase." ^ 



The facts thus submitted are, that the Alaskan Conclusions, 

 seal herd has decreased to a great extent in the 

 last few years; that the sole cause of such 

 decrease has been the indiscnminate and waste- 

 ful slaughter of seals in the open seas, particu- 

 larly pregnant and nursing females; that if such 

 destruction continues the northern fur-seal will 

 be practically exterminated; and that both from 



' Vol. II. p. 225. 

 2 Vol. II, p. 46. 



2716 32 



