SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 213 



noted in connection with the foregoing descriptions of how gravid 

 nursing females are killed: 



633. By the pelagic sealers and by Indian hunters along the coast, fur seals of both 

 sexes arc killed, and, indeed, it would be unreasonable, under the circumstances, to 

 expect that a distinction should be made in this respect, any more than that the 

 angler should discriminate between the sexes of the fish he may hook. 



010. The accusation of butchery laid against those who take the seals on shore 

 can not be brought against this pelagic method of killing the seal, which is really 

 hunting as distinguished from slaughter, and in which the animal has what may be 

 described as a fair chance for its life. 



Capt. C. L. Hooper, of the United States revenue marine (United 

 States Counter Case, p. 214) : 



Captain Hooper made extensive official investigations in regard to 

 seal life on the Pribilof Islands, in Bering Sea, and the North Pacific 

 Ocean in 1891 and 1892. In the course of these investigations he cap- 

 tured, between July 24 and August 31, 1892, 41 seals in Bering Sea. 

 He made no efforts to secure large numbers or all that he saw. The 41 

 seals were composed of the following classes: Old males, 1; young 

 males, 11; nursing cows, 22 j virgin cows, 7. He says: 



Since leaving San Francisco on March 9 the Corwin has steamed 16,200 miles, and 

 8,713 miles since the date of my reporting for duty, as part of the Bering Sea fleet. 

 Of this distance, 5,567 miles were steamed in Bering Sea. 



I find in general, as one of the results of my investigations, that more than two- 

 thirds of the seals taken are now having young or capable of bearing them at no 

 distant clay; that it is impossible to discriminate as to age or sex of seals while in 

 the water, except in the case of young pups and old bulls; that even under the most 

 favorable conditions a large percentage is lost by sinking or wounding; and that by 

 reason of the tameuess of the nursing cows, which form the larger part of the seals 

 sent, pelagic hunting in Bering Sea is peculiarly destructive and unless stopped will 

 wholly exterminate the already greatly depleted herds. 



1 do not believe that it is possible to indicate any zonal limit in Bering Sea beyond 

 which pelagic sealing could be carried on and at the same time preserve the seals 

 from complete annihilation. Further, I wish to renew a statement contained in a 

 former report made to the Secretary of the Treasury, that, unless supplemented with 

 protection in the Pacific Ocean, no amount of protection in Bering Sea will preserve 

 the herds. 



Capt. L. G. Shepard, United States revenue marine (Case of the 

 United States, Appendix, Vol. II, p. 187): 



I am 45 years of age, a resident of Washington, U. C., and am captain in the United 

 States Revenue-Marine Service, chief of division revenue marine, Treasury Depart- 

 ment. In command of the revenue steamer Rush, I made three cruises to Bering Sea 

 in the years 1887, 1888, and 1889 for the purpose of enforcing existing law for protec- 

 tion of seal life in Alaska and the waters thereof. I hereby append to and make a 

 part of this affidavit a table, marked A, giving the names of the vessels seized by me 

 in Bering Sea while violating the law of the United States in relation to the taking 

 of fur-bearing animals. 



******* 



I examined the skins taken from sealing vessels seized in 1887 and 1889, over 12,000 

 skins, and of these at least two-thirds or three-fourths were the skins of females. 

 Of the females taken in the Pacific Ocean, and early in the season in Bering Sea, 

 nearly all are heavy with young, and the death of the female necessarily causes the 

 death of the unborn pup seal; in fact, I have seen on nearly every vessel seized the 

 pelts of unborn pups which had been taken from their mothers. Of the females 

 taken in Bering Sea nearly all are in milk, and I have seen the milk come from the 

 can-asses of dead females lying on the decks of sealing vessels which were more 

 than 100 miles from the Pribilof Islands. From this fact, and from the further fact 

 that I have seen seals in the water over 150 miles from the islands during the sum- 

 mer, I am convinced that the female, after giving birth to her young on the rookeries, 

 goes at least 150 miles, in many cases, from the islands in search of food. It is 

 impossible to distinguish a male from a female seal in the water, except in the case 

 of a very old bull, when his size distinguishes him. Therefore, open-sea sealing is 

 entirely indiscriminate as to sex or age. 



