325 



The Aleuts are full-fledged U.S. citizens who vote in local, state, and national 

 elections. They all speak English, pay taxes, and yoiing men are subject to the 

 draft. Elementary school education is available, but for a high school education 

 youngsters must go to the mainland. 



Residents of the Pribilofs do not yet have telephones or television, but prac- 

 tically every family has at least one short-wave and long-wave radio. Many homes 

 are equipped with citizens-band short-wave radios which substitute for tele- 

 phones, except that there is no privacy. With these radios, they can communicate 

 with each other on St. Paul and with friends and relatives on St. George, the 

 other occupied island. The story is told of an Aleut lady who wanted to have a 

 semi-private chat with a friend at the other end of the village via the citzens- 

 band radio, so she whispered. 



A small herd of wild reindeer roams St. Paul Island ; and bird lovers come from 

 all over the world, equipped with cameras and binoculars, to see the tufted puflSns, 

 the niurres, the kittiwakes, the pelagic cormorants, and many other species. 



And each year, the seals return, in a migration that has continued for eons. 



The Truth About the U.S. Fur Seals 



FICTION 



The U.S. kills baby seals on the Pribilof Islands. 



FACT 



The U.S. does not kill baby seals on the Pribilofs or anywhere else. Misleading 

 advertisements have used pictures of a Canadian harvest of a different species 

 of seal. 



fiction 



The U.S. seal harvest takes place on the ice. 



FACT 



The U.S. harvest takes place on land a short distance from the rookeries 

 where animals can be carefully selected for sex and age. 



FICTION 



Clubs are used because it's the cheapest way to kill the animals. 



FACT 



Scientific evidence has shown that clubbing and sticking the heart with a 

 sharp knife is the quickest and most humane way known to dispatch the seals. 



FICTION 



At the rate we are killing them the last seal will soon be gone. 



FACT 



The Pribilof Island seal herds are scientifically managed to maintain the herd 

 at its stabilized population of about 1.3 million animals. That is close to the 

 number which will provide the greatest annual harvest. 



Seals are skinned alive. 



FICTION 

 FACT 



There is no possibility that the animals could be alive or could recover after 

 being struck with the club and the heart stuck with a knife. 



FICTION 



Clubbing and stabbing are cruel. 



FACT 



The method is consistent with current humane slaughter practices. The United 

 States refuses to use a less effective method merely for the sake of appearances. 



