124 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIIULOF ISLANDS. 



THE KILLING OF UNDERSIZED SEALS. 



P'or ii time these more vigorous methods had the desired effect, but the scarcity 

 of bachelors as a result of the decreasing birth rate made it uecessary finally to lower 

 the age for killable seals so as to include first the 2year-olds and in the eud many 

 of the larger yearlings,' iu order to secure the requisite 100,000 skins. By these 

 methods it happened, in 1SS9, that jjractically the whole bachelor herd of four years 

 and under, down to the yearlings, was wiped out. The result was the abnormal drop 

 to L'l.oOO in the quota of 1890. 



SUCH KILLING DID NOT INJURE THE HERD. 



It is evident, however, that this sort of killing i". not inimical to the breeding herd. 

 It simply destroys the superfluous bachelors through premature killing. It is an 

 anticipation in the (juota of one year of the product of the next. That even the ch)se 

 killing of 1889 did not endanger the herd is clearly shown iu that it was possible to 

 secure, in 1890, 21,000 seals of killable age. This fact alone shows that in the nature 

 of things it is impossible to get all the males of a certain age in any given year. 

 That there were 21,000 seals which were of killable age in 1890 may be taken as 

 showing, indirectly at least, that, in like manner, other older bachelors escaped, which, 

 in the interval between 1889 and 1890, had ])assed to the "wigged" stage, where 

 they were uo longer suitable for the quota. Of this class Mr. Elliott records in his 

 1890 report the turning back of 1,112 from a ))art of the killings of that year. 



PREMATURE KILLING WASTEFUL, BUT NOT INJURIOUS. 



It is not the intention here to justify the methods of killing employed in the 

 closing years of the lease of the Alaska Oommercial Company. Such killing ought 

 never to have been allowed. It would not have occurred had not the termination of 

 the lease been approaching, as it would have been wholly against the interest of the 

 lessees. But it is not conceivable that such killing could ever affect the life of the 

 herd, as it would necessarily bring to ruin the business of taking seal skins on land 

 long before it could produce any effect on the breediug herd. 



KILLING Ol' PUPS WASTEFUL. 



Nor can the wasteful practice of killing pups lor food and killing seals when 

 stagy, which unnecessarily augmented the draft on the male life of the herd, be 

 passed over without condemnation. The magnitude of this waste may be inferred 

 from the following synopsis taken from the records : '^ 



Seals lilletJ ichoxe skins were wasted, 1S71-1S90. 



Pm ps ( lor food) 95, fi2R 



Food skins (rejected) 27, 790 



Hachelor skins (re jetted) 30, 798 



Total 154.216 



I Letter of Dr. Mclntyre, Sen;ite Doe. 137, Pt. I, p. 3ir>. 

 See Appendix I. 



