124 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
THE KILLING OF UNDERSIZED SEALS. 
For a time these more vigorous methods had the desired effect, but the scarcity 
of bachelors as a result of the decreasing birth rate made it necessary finally to lower 
the age for killable seals so as to include first the 2-year-olds and in the end many 
of the larger yearlings,! in order to secure the requisite 100,000 skins. By these 
methods it happened, in 1889, that practically the whole bachelor herd of four years 
and under, down to the yearlings, was wiped out. The result was the abnormal drop 
to 21,000 in the quota of 1890. 
SUCH KILLING DID NOT INJURE THE HERD. 
It is evident, however, that this sort of killing is not inimical to the breeding herd. 
It simply destroys the superfluous bachelors through premature killing. It is an 
anticipation in the quota of one year of the product of the next. That even the close 
killing of 1889 did not endanger the herd is clearly shown in that it was possible to 
secure, iu 1890, 21,000 seals of killable age. This fact alone shows that in the nature 
of things it is impossible to get all the males of a certain age in any given year. 
That there were 21,000 seals which were of killable age in 1890 may be taken as 
showing, indirectly at least, that, in like manner, other older bachelors escaped, which, 
in the interval between 1889 and 1890, had passed to the “wigged” stage, where 
they were no longer suitable for the quota. Of this class Mr. Elliott records in his 
1890 report the turning back of 1,112 from a part of the killings of that year. 
PREMATURE KILLING WASTEFUL, BUT NOT INJURIOUS. 
It is not the intention here to justify the methods of killing employed in the 
closing years of the lease of the Alaska Commercial Company. Such killing ought 
never to have been allowed. It would not have occurred had not the termination of 
the lease been approaching, as it would have been wholly against the interest of the 
lessees. But it is not conceivable that such killing could ever affect the life of the 
herd, as it would necessarily bring to ruin the business of taking seal skins on Jand 
long before it could produce any effect on the breeding herd. 
KILLING OF PUPS WASTEFUL. 
Nor can the wasteful practice of killing pups for food and killing seals when 
stagy, which unnecessarily augmented the draft on the male life of the herd, be 
passed over without condemnation. The magnitude of this waste may be inferred 
from the following synopsis taken from the records :? 
Seals killed whose skins were wasted, 1871-1890. 
Pups, (Or PO0d) v0c05 0 eeeene tencueeeemsceeeeueegibvsigios sates ogee sh Seek sede eewecece 95, 628 
Food skins: (T6j6Cted) ccc. scece sete s uses onessqualt dau aes ds eddansmdedeccecse 27, 790 
Bachelor skins (rejected) .. 2. 0... c..sec cee ce cce cies ccen socinee aeccce seers ceacecac 30, 798 
Ota) esihsd sa site Www enmaedicaugericahdoesiiag age ks eens cosceddcwe seus emsueben 154, 216 
' Letter of Dr. McIntyre, Senate Doc. 137, Pt. I, p. 345. 
See Appendix I. 
