474 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. Clark. No. Now, if these losses occur with a perfectly 

 normal stock of bulls, the result of the heavy overstock of bulls 

 now being provided for will be an enormous increase of loss. For 

 illustrations of the evil effect of fighting bulls see field notes, volume 2 

 of the report of the commission of 1896-97. I thought of reading 

 these notes to the committee. Is it desirable to do that? 



The Chairman. Well, you can give the reference to them. 



Mr. Clark. Pages 535, 536, 549, 550, etc. Now, I would .like 

 to hand this photograph of a skin of a cow bitten to death by her bull 

 to the members of the committee in order that they may see what has 

 been done to the cows under my observation. 



The Chairman. What year is this ? 



Mr. Clark. 1897. In 1897 



The Chairman (interposing) . Now, just one moment. Are you 

 sure that some of them were not speared in the ocean and came on 

 land? 



Mr. Clark. Well, that one was not. 



The Chairman. Was that your observation ? 



Mr. Clark. No; we found one cow with a spear head in her on 

 the rookery. That is the only one. 



The Chairman. Were some of them shot? 



Mr. Clark. Yes; we took shot out of many of them on the killing 

 fields. 



Now, seventh, the struggle among the bulls is not necessary: 

 Rational methods of breeding do not call for this struggle. It is 

 not allowed among domestic animals. Man's selection in the case 



of the fur seals is not one 



The Chairman (interposing). Is it natural for the male to want 

 to tear the female to pieces ? 



Mr. Clark. No; it is not natural, except that when the animals 

 are coming in heat the idle bulls try to capture them. Now, the cow 

 is a 75-pound animal and the bull weighs 500 pounds, and he treats 

 her just as a dog would a rat. He picks her up in his teeth and carries 

 her away 25 or 50 or 75 feet and another bull attacks Mm and they 

 may tear her to pieces in their struggle. 



Now, I want to pass around these pictures at this point for two rea- 

 sons. At the bottom of the page I want to call attention to the size 

 of this big bull [indicating]. 



Mr. Watkins. What is the location? 



Mr. Clark. Down at the lower left hand corner. That is an adult 

 bull seal. 



The Chairman. When were these taken? 



Mr. Clark. These were taken at various times. I took this cow 

 and pup picture in 1909. This little pup was anchored by its placenta 

 a mile back from the rookery, for some unknown reason, and I had 

 to battle with the mother before I could cut the umbilical cord free. 

 Now look at the picture above these two and you will see the con- 

 dition that appeared in 1897 when the idle bulls were set behind the 

 breeding masters in rows three or four deep. It happened that on 

 the day when the picture was taken the weather was clear and warm 

 and the animals were asleep, but the normal condition of that breeding 

 ground in 1897 was one of continual fighting, and when you get your 

 95,000 young bulls distributed over the Pribilof Islands 12 years hence 

 the number of pups trampled to death will be enormous. 



