ing a wide circle around the group, to avoid causing them to tun 

 harder. 



Portable fence sections can be used to erect a temporary open cor- 

 ral. Four or five partitions 1 .25 m (4 ft) high and 2.5 m (8 ft) long are 

 framed with standard construction lumber and covered with heavy- 

 duty wire fencing material. An extra horizontal framing member 

 about 0.5 m high receives the major stress of seals pushing against 

 the fence. Corral sections are arranged with the wire fencing material 

 to the inside to prevent animals from climbing on the horizontal 

 brace. The fence sections are erected in an open U shape and tied 

 together with rope. If marking or tagging operations take place about 

 5 m in front of the open end of the corral, the animals will stay inside 

 with little attention from the workers and little agitation among the 

 seals. 



Seals held in close pods either by a corral or by a herder may lose 

 body heat more slowly than normal. Close contact of their bodies and 

 occasional crawling on top of one another can inhibit heat loss. For 

 this reason the condition of the seals must be continually monitored 

 even after they are enclosed and motionless. 



Once the seals are rounded up and moved some distance inland, 

 they may be captured individually for marking or tagging. The wire 

 fence corral proves most effective for these individual captures, 

 because a single worker can approach the group of seals and not 

 require the assistance of two or more herders to prevent the group 

 from moving away. Chokers 2.5 m long are used to snare individuals 

 and pull them out of the group. (See section describing capture of 

 adult females for choker techniques.) 



Subadult male seals can be immobilized safely with a restraint bar. 

 Various techniques for getting the animal into the restraint bar may be 

 developed according to how many workers are present and how large 

 the animals are. Although two people can manage the task, three are 

 preferred. With two persons, one drags the seal using a choker, and 

 the second grasps the seal's rear flippers. The seal is dragged side- 

 ways to the restraint bar. There the individual handling the choker 

 holds the animal's head down with the neck across the yoke of the 

 base plank while the second person releases the hind flippers and 

 swings the bar into position. 



In closing the bar care must be taken to keep arms and elbows out 

 of reach of the seal, and closure must be made quickly but judiciously 

 to prevent the animal from biting the descending metal bar. This type 

 of restraint device may have fabric padding wrapped around the 

 metal bar at the U bend. This padding can prevent injury to the seal 

 should it bite the bar, and also allows some adjustment in the size of 

 the opening. With three persons available for restraining the animal, 

 one may handle the choker; one holds the animal's rear flippers, and 

 the third person can manipulate the restraint bar. 



Even while in a restraint bar, seals can show considerable strength 

 in lifting themselves off the ground with their front flippers. An ani- 

 mal struggling in the bar can best be restrained and quieted by pulling 

 its front flippers back and folding them under the body. This can eas- 

 ily be accomplished by a person straddling the seal in the kneeling 

 position. This straddled position is convenient for applying tags and 

 marks, clipping heads, installing harnesses, or simply restraining the 

 animal until it stops struggling. Even while restrained in the bar the 

 animal has a surprising reach with its neck. Be watchful of arms and 

 elbows in the vicinity. 



There is some danger of asphyxiating an animal in the restraint bar 

 With careful observation however; this danger can be reduced to a 

 minimum. A number of symptoms give advance indication that an 

 animal is suffering undue stress: 1) breath rate— it is sometimes diffi- 

 cult to determine whether the animal is voluntarily holding its breath, 

 or is being prevented from breathing by the restraint bar or choker 



With a finger sharply jab the seal in the ribs; breathing will resume if 

 the breathhold is voluntary. 2) Breath sounds— normal breathing may 

 be quite noisy even when the animal is getting adequate air, and the 

 inspiration may be short. However, if the inspiration is very labored 

 and terminated by the jaws audibly snapping shut, the animal's tra- 

 chea is probably compressed, and the pressure on the restraint bar 

 should be eased. 3) Tongue color — the tongue is a fast indicator of the 

 animal's condition. If the tongue begins to turn blue, the animal is 

 short of air; the bar should be eased and the animal encouraged to 

 breathe deeply for several seconds. 4) Eyelid twitching — rapid 

 twitching of the eyelid is another indication of interrupted air supply. 

 All four of these symptoms are indicative of more serious problems to 

 follow within a few seconds if the animal's situation is not changed 

 quickly. 5) Convulsions— violent convulsive quivering immediately 

 precedes unconsciousness. When an animal begins to convulse, pres- 

 sure on the bar must be removed immediately. (For this reason it is 

 important to keep the choker loosely around the animal's neck even 

 when it is being restrained in the bar.) With the bar released (and one 

 person standing by ready to tighten the choker) a sharp blow with the 

 fist or heel of the hand high on the animal's back, or a vigorous shake 

 of the animal's hind flippers is adequate to bring the animal back to 

 consciousness and restart the breathing. Speed and decisive action 

 are essential if the animal is to be spared. 



The person handling the restraint bar has the best visibility and 

 should carry the responsibility for observing the animal's condition, 

 but all workers should be aware of the animal and watch for symp- 

 toms of stress. When a large number of animals is to be marked, han- 

 dling the restraint bar can be a tedious job, yet it requires a high level 

 of attentiveness. Safety of the animal and the persons working around 

 it are at stake. This job should be rotated among workers at the site, 

 or the one person with the job should be given considerable 

 encouragement to remain alert. 



Peripheral Males 



Male fur seals approaching adult size (5-7 yr old, 100-160 kg) can 

 be caught and marked using a hoop net. They are not immobilized, 

 but since their vision is restricted by the specially constructed net, 

 they struggle relatively little. Males of this size can be found moving 

 about on the periphery of the rookery (hence their name); they are 

 also called "idle bulls." These males are beginning to acquire the 

 final adult "shape," but are not as broad across the chest as are fully 

 adult males. 



Capturing peripheral males is very active work because they are 

 not yet defending a territory and, hence, will not stand their ground. 

 Rather, they tend to run into the nearest rookery, or through a rookery 

 to reach the water; which can cause considerable disturbance. Prior to 

 a capture attempt, the animals should be driven inland, either individ- 

 ually or in small groups, some distance away from the rookery edge. 

 This allows some operating room for the captures and reduces the 

 disturbance to the rookery caused by humans moving about. It is also 

 easier to control the movements of animals once they are some dis- 

 tance inland. A peripheral male making a vigorous effort to escape 

 into a rookery or into the water is virtually impossible to stop with a 

 bamboo pole. 



This type of capture requires only a hoop net 0.75 m in diameter 

 and 2 m deep (described above), three or four workers, and at least 

 two stout bamboo poles 3-4 m long. The longer poles for capturing 

 territorial males are rather cumbersome for cutting out one of these 

 large animals from a group. Whatever marking or tagging equipment 

 is selected for this animal should be carried in a bag or bucket because 

 the final location where the animal will be immobilized is difficult to 

 predict. 



10 



