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We can but hope that the ocean mammal populations will revive 

 again as they did following the 1911 treaty to discontinue pelagic seal- 

 ing, the killing of seals in the open waters. But what brought the 

 revival of this species was not only the cessation of their slaughter in 

 the open waters, but also on land. For 7 years they were not killed 

 commercially by the four nations involved in the agreement. A second 

 respite was accorded ocean mammals, during the forced moratorium 

 on their killing during the Second World War. As a result, not only 

 did the whales, seals, and other ocean mammals revive, but the oceans 

 recovered their health as evidenced by the vast increase in fish of all 

 variety as well. This proportionate increase of fish and mammals 

 suggests that when the mammals of the oceans are gone, there will be 

 no more fish. No one knows why, but it is a fact that the salmon follow 

 the Alaskan seals and are captured in the fishing nets of the Japanese 

 and Koreans. The tmia follow the porpoise and both tuna and porpoise 

 are caught in the nets of the fishermen. Again, the mammals are 

 clearly needed to keep the oceans viable. 



It is only within the past few decades that man has interested him- 

 self in the behavior patterns of species other than his own. And the 

 scientists engaged in this field have found that the other animals too 

 have close personal, family, and social relationships and structures. 

 The porpoise caught in the net will not leave the side of a mate or infant 

 even if prodded to do so ; a school of whales will follow one of their 

 members harpooned by a whaling fleet and thus offer themselves, 

 through family fidelity, to a wholesale massacre ; the mother seal stays 

 by the skinned carcass of her baby for days at a time. The murder of 

 any one of these sentient creatures leaves behind a wake of distress 

 in the whole commune of the species. 



The slaughter of harp and Alaskan seals has been widely publicized 

 because these highly organized massacres lend themselves most readily 

 to documentary films and public exposure. The world is outraged over 

 the slaughter of seals, both in the Atlantic and on the Pribilofs — and 

 demands a halt to both. The baby seal, one of nature's friendliest and 

 most appealing creatures, is the object of a gruesome massacre each 

 spring in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northwest Atlantic. Ask- 

 ing you to look at this slaughter from the point of view of the seals, I 

 would like to quote verbatim from an article in the New York Times 

 last March. Since I stood next to the reporter, I can testify as to the 

 accuracy of his account : 



A mother seal threw herself protectively across the body of her pup. When 

 the man who had clubbed it returned to skin the pup, the mother stood fast, A 

 second hunter, then a third, came up to within a foot or two of the mother. It 

 maintained its protective position, resting on its front flippers, its head thrust up 

 and forward, facing the danger. Finally, a man approached from the side. With 

 a quick, darting motion he waved his club within inches of the mother's head, 

 then jerked it back. The seal turned on the man. He backed away. The seal, 

 using its flippers in a pull-push motion, moved slowly and awkwardly over the 

 ice in pursuit. Meanwhile, two hunters had dragged the pup away. The mother 

 turned and tried to give chase but again could not catch up. It stopped and 

 watched the lost pup for a moment. Then it turned, crept to the edge of the ice, 

 and dived into the water. 



The mother seals that are driven off bounce up and down in the 

 water holes like a macabre ballet, watching helplessly the murder of 

 their nursing babies. At the end of the day as the killers disappear 

 from the scene the mothers crawl back on the ice, each to nuzzle the 



