366 TESTIMONY 



Peia ic kiiiin <* Commander Island seals in the water. During the past 



threatens* 5 extinction two summers, and especially during the last one, this 



of herd - killing in the water has become so great that if allowed 



to continue in future years the herd will be in danger 



of ultimate extinction. 



I do not know exactly how wasteful this method may be from the 



fact that all the animals wounded or killed are not 



wasteful" killing captured, though I am told that much loss occurs in 



that way and I know that under certain conditions a 



sinking. seal shot dead will sink at once. I can state positively, 



however, from actual experience and personal examina- 



Peia ic catch 9t> tion, that a vast proportion, fully ninety-six per cent, of 



cent female*. per the skins taken by this method during the present year 



are those of female animals. In addition a certain 



number of the skins so taken are those of very young seals, probably of 



both sexes, such as are never killed on land. 



Very few of the females killed are barren, no matter when or where 

 -^ . __ they are killed. Females taken early in the season are 



Few barren cows ,, i •,-, • ,.* 7 1 ,... ,, 



killed. generally heavy with young, in which condition they 



Two deaths for travel slowly as compared with the other seals. The 



kTrd beariQg female killing of such a female involves, of course, the imme- 

 diate loss of two lives. But even when the female is 



taken after she has been on shore and given birth to her young, this 

 same result follows eventually, for a seal will suckle 



ow1i ) pup 8nckles ° nly ou ly ner own P U P? an( i * ae pups are for the first three 

 to five months dependent altogether on their mothers 

 for food. Consequently when the mothers, who after the birth of their 

 pups leave the rookeries in search of food (traveling sometimes con- 

 siderable distances, I do not know exactly how far), fail to return their 

 pups must necessarily die. 



There are always a few dead pups to be found on the rookeries whose 

 _, , , death is not due to that of their mothers: but during 



Dead pups increased. .-,-,, . , r. -, ' -, ■, ° 



the last year or two a greater number ot dead pups have 

 been actually noticed than heretofore and have attracted the attention 

 of all persons on the islands who are at all familiar with seal life. It 

 can not be successfully contended that they all died of natural causes. 

 There is no disease among the Commander Island seals; and while a 

 certain number of young pups are always exposed to the danger of 

 being crushed to death (but not as a result of the drives which are 

 made to collect seals for killing), or of being drowned by the surf, yet 

 these causes of death will not account for the greater mortality of pups 

 which took place during the past summer. Besides, the bodies of the 

 dead pups I refer to are those of starved animals, being greatly ema- 

 ciated. 



It is chiefly during the next few years that the effects of the recent 

 killing of females will become most noticeable, because 

 kmSg t8 ° f pelagie many of the pups which in those years would have be- 

 come bachelors, or "holluschickie," have never been 

 born, or died soon after birth. 

 With regard to the driving of the seals from the beaches to the places 

 of slaughter, while it does not benefit them, yet I believe 

 Driving. ^ a t tk ere are very few cases in which it does them any 



harm, even if they are redriven. I am sure it does not render them 

 impotent. It should be remembered that, unlike the hair seals, they 

 are fairly adapted to movement on land, as is proved by the fact that 

 they are in some cases actually driven considerable distances over 

 ground that is both rough and steep. 



