90 



insiilting-to-the-intelligence justification given for the murder of the 

 Pribilof seals and the Amchitka otters? Is there no end to the waste 

 of the public's money — this one must be many, many millions — for 

 such research boondoggles? The polar bear — an animal near extinc- 

 tion — is accorded similar treatment and since 1968 half a million dol- 

 lars of our taxpayers' money have been spent in harassing them. The 

 animals are shot with anesthetizing darts from moving aircraft with 

 high-powered rifles. Some are killed outright. Others are consigned 

 to harassment or a slow death by the weight of the transmitters hung 

 about their necks. The purpose of the exercise is to put out statistics 

 to show that there are plenty of bears for trophy hunters to pursue. 



Tlie seals on the Pribilof Islands have been similarly harassed and 

 it appears that so long as radio transmitters are manufactured you will 

 have men who will hang them on some helpless animal, even though 

 they proved long ago that the effect is death. The cost of all this in 

 animal suffering is immeasurable ; the cost in taxpayers' money must 

 be tremendous. We suggest the money, at least, be measured with an 

 open accounting in the Congress of the type and purpose of all so- 

 called research grants, with no money accorded to these animal- 

 tracking projects. 



The harassment and murder of the oceans' mammals is an indict- 

 ment of our Government and its policies. We are therefore grateful 

 that your committee is now acting to change those policies. Whatever 

 the final wording of the bill released by your committee, we ask — on 

 behalf of the animals and the people of this country — that three 

 principles be retained. They are : 



1. A total ban on the importation into the United States of all prod- 

 ucts, raw or finished, from any ocean mammal — sealskin coats, polar 

 bear rugs, whale, dolphin, and porpoise meat for dog and cat food ; 

 walrus tusks, suede leather from baby harp seals, and other such 

 frivolous and unnecessary commodities. Such a ban would immediately 

 remove much of the economic incentive for other countries to kill 

 marine mammals since the United States is a major market for these 

 products. 



2. A ban on Americans killing ocean mammals anywhere in the 

 world, including the "accidental" killing of porpoises by fishermen. 

 There must be no loopholes allowing for the "taking" of any marine 

 mammal in the name of "management." There must be no delegation 

 of authority to any agency for the issuance of permits to kill for any 

 purpose, since this would legitimize the present situation and condone 

 in principle the further suffering of these intelligent and highly 

 evolved creatures. 



3. The third requisite of the bill which must be retained is the man- 

 date of our State Department to vigorously negotiate a truly interna- 

 tional treaty for a halt to the slaughter of ocean mammals. The State 

 Department's opposition to this bill based on its reluctance to even try 

 to achieve a new treaty is shocking to me and I should think to most 

 Americans. We believe that our country is a major power capable of 

 influencing other nations. However fine a treaty negotiated 60 years 

 ago, in this period of rapid changes in the ocean environment and di- 

 minishing wildlife, the State Department must be forced to do more, 

 if future generations are to see animals outside of a museum for extinct 

 species. 



