118 



THE SEALS 



Each morning during the killing season, the animals are driven inland for 

 the kill. The men walk them a great distance. Great clouds of steam rise from 

 their bodies. From time to time a seal falls in a quivering mass, exhausted. At 

 the end of the long drive, the animals are broken into pods of 5 or 6. A man 

 rattles a tin can. The seals raise their heads in panic. Crack, crack, crack. 

 Other men smash their skulls. Despite Government claims that the animals 

 are quickly rendered unconscious, time after time I saw the animals hit again 

 and again because one blow had not been suflScient to stun them. Thte seals are 

 smashed in the face, the flippers, the back. Byes pop out of skulls and the 

 animals shriek in pain . . . flopping and twisting in the tundra for an excnici- 

 ating amount of time until he is smashed, again into unconsciousness. The 

 stickers come next. They plunge a knife into the heart area and often a still 

 beating organ spills out of the body. 



Then the strippers attach heavy metal clamps and yank the skin from the 

 steaming body. This goes on until the quota for that day is met. 



Some of the men who worked in the blubber factory told me that when we 

 were not present at the kill the men killed much higher quotas, and also they 

 killed a large number of female seals (although the Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries claims that this does not happen) . 



THE NATIVES 



The Aleut Natives on the islands live in a ^tate of semi-slavery. The sealing 

 season lasts only a short time each year (6-9 weeks). The remainder of the 

 time the warm, friendly people are forced to simply exist on this barren remote 

 island. They were originally brought to the Pribilofs by the Russians as slaves 

 and, apparently, when the United States bought Alaska in 1867, we also bought the 

 people. They told me that they had been warned not to hurt us because that 

 would make their situation worse, but they were told not to appear in front 

 of our cameras or to cooperate with us in any way. 



They are given a limited amount of beer (no liquor is allowed) and they 

 manage to maintain a state of semi-stupor a great deal of the time. In the early 

 morning on the kills, many of the man gag and vomit on the killing fleld. 

 I was reminded of the Indian and the fire-water syndrome, where the si/ib- 

 servient natives are kept in hand by keeping them slightly drimk. 



Several of the men told me that they did not want to kill the seals, but that 

 they had no other way of making a living. They asked me why the United States 

 Government didn't find something else for them to do, so that they could be 

 employed year roimd and would not be forced to carry out their terrible task. 

 They asked also why the Government shipped the skins half-way around the 

 world to the Fouke Fur Company in Greenville, South Carolina, for the final 

 processing of the skins when there were able men on the islands to do that work. 



One claim that the Government makes is that the Natives must kill the 

 animals to eat them. In the ten days that I was there, I did not see one Aleut 

 Native take one seal carcass home to eat. (The carcasses are ground up in a 

 plant on the island to make food for mink ranches). There is a well stocked 

 supermarket on the island with all of the frozen foods and merchandise that 

 can be found in any small American town in the country. All of these foods 

 are brought to the island and sold for money or food stamps. 



The young people I stpoke to said that they wanted to get out as fast as they 

 could. They are all sent to the mainland (Alaska) for their secondary schooling, 

 and none of those I spoke to wanted to come back to live in St. Paul. 



From any standpoint — moral, pragmatic or financial — there is no reason for 

 the Federal Government to maintain or pennit this operation. 



The slaughter of the seals is horrible enough, but the degrading exploitation 

 of the Aleut people is intolerable. 



I have film of the seal slaughter which I would very much like to make avail- 

 able for viewing whenever it might be needed. 



Signed: Thomas S. Bywatebs. 



Statement of Ronald B. Dbummond, Capistbano Beach, Cauf., in Suppoet of 

 THE Ocean Mammal Peotection Act (S. 1315, H.R 6558) 



One early morning, forty years ago, I found, washed ashore on the beach. 

 a wounded mother sealion and her baby. The mother had l>ee(n blasted right in 

 the face with a shotgun. Her eyes were torn bo shreds and of course she was 



