456 



Mr. DiNGFXL. Would you yield? We have seen in the papers in 

 Alaska claiming of wash-ups of over 800 dead walruses on the shores 

 of Alaska and it was said that these animals arrived on the shore as 

 a result of the annual eskimo hunting efforts. 



I am curious. Does this not mean a much higher level of kill, rather 

 a waste at a much higher level than 1,000 animals ? 



Mr. Burns. Mr. Chairman, it means either a kill of much higher 

 than 1,000 animals or it means, in fact, that the report in excess of 800 

 animals is erroneous. 



If this is the case, the original report from the newspaper based on 

 figures obtained by State officials and by fish and wildlife officials was 

 300. Perhaps the transition of a 3 into an 8 was a human error. 



Mr, DiNGELL. I find myself hard put to think that an Alaskan 

 newspaper would be advertising a wasteful slaughter on the part of 

 the natives up there, yet that was the distinct impression that I got. 



Mr. Burns. That is a correct one, sir. 



Mr. Dtngell. Mr. Potter just handed it to me and it said who is in 

 charge of the dead and decomposing and highly stmelly walrus car- 

 casses that are currently littering our beaches and it says there is an 

 annual harvest of 11,70K3 animals by Russians and American hunters 

 which involves random firing into the hei^ds. Wounded animals are 

 able to escape but do not live for long. 



Is that a quote from you, Mr. Burns ? It is in the Anchorage Daily 

 News, August 1^71. 



( The article follows : ) 



[Anchorage Daily News, Wednesday, August 11, 1971] 



North op the Arctic Circle Disposing of Dead Walrus 



(By Jane Pender) 



KoTZEBUE — Problem) of the week in our village turned out to be, at a recent 

 Council meeting, who's in charge of all those dead, decomposing and highly 

 smelly walrus carcasses which are currently littering our beaches? And, not 

 merely who's in charge, but also, even if he cian be found, what can he do about 

 it in the first place? 



Several weeks ago, these nammals, which can weigh above three tons, began 

 to washup on the beaches all the way from Shishmaref to the south to Kivalina 

 north of Kotzebue. As many as 180 were counted north ; another 80 minimum 

 to the south. 



There was a good deal of speculation as to what caused the large numiber of 

 dead animals. Some people thought they had come across from the Strait from 

 Russian bunts ; while others speculated the death.s were the result of diselase. 



"Probably not," said Marine Biologist John Bums, of the state Department 

 of Fish and Game in Fairbanks. "They are some of the animals which were lost 

 during the spring hunt," probably at Little Diomede. King Island or St Law- 

 rence Island." 



Of the annual harvest of about 11,700 animals by Russian and American 

 hunters, fully half are lost, due chiefly, Burns said, to method of hunting, which 

 is random firing into the herds. Wounded animals are able to escape, but do not 

 live long. 



A combination of late ice in the Bering Strait and westerly winds brought them 

 in an unusual numbers this year, he said. 



He said the niimber observed along the northern beaches is not usually high 

 though the annual walrus kill is probably close to the reproduction rate. There 

 are 9.5.000 walrus. 



The problem which the village has now is that these big mammals are partially 

 decomposed. Tlie Field Sanitarian for Public Health Service, Rick Smith, in a 

 letter to the Council strongly advised they be buried or towed out to sea. 



