<O SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



CAUSE OF DFAT1I OF PUPS. 



< t >. Iiil \ mi see any dead pups on the rookeries this season J . A. Yes; n,\ attention 

 was called to the matter l>y ,1. Stanley- Brown, \\lio rei|iiestetl me to examine them 

 with a view to determining the cause of their death. I examined a number which 

 had apparently recently tiled. Their bodies were entirely destitute tit fat. and no 

 food to be found in their stomachs. Alter a careful examination 1 found no evidence 

 of disease. 



< t >. What do you assign as the cause of their death: 1 A. I believe them to have 

 died of starvation. 



< t >. Why do you think they died of starvation? A. From the fact that nearly all 

 the dead on T he rookery were pups, and from absence of all si >;ns of disease, emaciated 

 condition of their bodio. and absence of food from their stomachs, i .1. C. S. Akerly, 

 M. D. > 



There were a jreat many dead pups on the rookeries during my last three years on 

 St. Paul Island. Many of them wandered helplessly about, away from the groups 

 or pods where they were accustomed to lie. ami finally starved to death. \Ve knew 

 at the time what killed them, for the vessels and boats were several times plainly in 

 si^ht from the island shooting seals in water, and t he revenue cutters and company's 

 vessels arriving at the island frequently reported their presence in Bering Sea. and 

 sometimes the capture of these marauding crews. If all had been captured and the 

 business broken up the seal rookeries would be healthy and prosperous, to-day, instead 

 of beiim depleted and broken up. I speak positively about it. lice a use no other cause 

 can be assigned for their depletion upon any reasonable hypothesis. i\V. ('. Allis, 

 lessees' a.u'ent. 



Dr. Akerly. the lessees' physician at the time, made an autopsy of some of the 

 carcasses and reported that he could find no traces of any diseased condition what- 

 ever, but there wa> an entire absence of food or any si^ns of nourishment in the 

 stomach. lie fore Dr. Dawson left I called his attention to \\hat Pr. Akerly had 

 done, but whether he saw him on the subject I can not tell. (Milton Barnes, Treas- 

 ury a^-ent.) 



I procured a number of these pups, and Dr. Akerly, at my request, made autop- 

 sies, not onlv at the village, but later on upon the rookeries themselves. The lun^'8 

 of these dead pups tloatetl in water. There was no organic disease of heart, liver, 

 lun.u's. stomach, or alimentary canal. In the latter there was but little and often no 

 fecal mat ter, and t he stomach was cut i rely empty. Pups in the last st a^'e of emacia- 

 tion were seen by me upon the rookeries, and their condition, as well as that of the 

 dead ones. It-It no room to doubt that their death was caused by starvation. (.). 

 Stanley-Brown. ) 



The pups on the rookeries were fat and healthy, and while I was on the islands no 

 epidemic disease ever appeared ainoni; them, nor did the natives have stories of 

 an epidemic ever destroying them. (Charles Bryant, Treasury airent. 1SI>!M<S77. ) 



I was informed at the time (November. 1*!U > that the stoma-'hs of dead pups had 

 been examined by the medical ofticers at the island and no traces of food found 

 therein. From personal observation 1 am of the opinion that fully !<> per cent of 

 them died of starvation, .^reat emaciation hein.u apparent. (John C. Cantwell, 

 re\ eniie marine, i 



I ha\e never known of anv sickness or epidemic amon^ the seals, and I am of the 

 opinion that the t housands of dead pups on the rookeries last year died of starva- 

 tion on account of their mothers belli- shot and killed while feeding at the fishing 

 bank> in the, sea. I wa> present last year and saw some of the dead pups examined. 

 Their stomachs were empty, ami they presented all the appearances of starvation. 

 I also noticed on the rookeries a jreut many emaciated pups, which on a later visit 

 would be dead. It has a 1 \\ a \ s been the practice prior to IS'.U for the natives to kill 

 :{.IMIII to 1. lion ]iup> in November for food, and we always find their stomachs filled 

 with milk. ('('. L. Fowler, lessees' a^ent. \ 



It is my opinion that the cows are killed by the hunters when they <i'o out in the 

 sea tt> feed, and the pups are left to die and do die on the island, t.lohn Fratis. native 



sealer. ) 



Thev were thin. poor, and appeared to have starved to death. (Alex. llaussen, 

 sealer.) 



It is a weli-knoun fact that the female seals leave the islands and ^o ^real dis- 

 tances for i'ood, and it is clearly pi-oven that many of them do not return, as the 

 number of pups starved to death on t he rookeries demonstrates. (W. S. Hereford, 

 M. D.) 



