Branding, northern fur seal, Kamchatka,--Barabash-Nikiforov stated that 
"4n order to maintain a reserve of males, three-year old backelors were 
branded [kleimenie]" on the Commander Islands (1936: 230, translation). He 
did not elaborate on this statement. 
Branding, southern fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus), Scuth Africa.<- 
Biologist RK. W. Rand Ynftlated experiments in marking seals on the Union 
Government Guano Islands in 1947. He states "I have been branding pups (8 
10 months old) on the dorsal posterior surfece and find this suitable for 
quick identification. . . Black pups (i.¢6., those that have not undergone 
their first moult) are too thin skinned to stand the shock" (personal comu- 
nications), He continued the program in 1948, using consecutive numbers. 
Branding, Weddell seal(Leptonychotes weddelli), Antarctica.-=A photograph 
in The Wationat Geographic Magazine shows a Weddell seal and bears the follovw- 
ing caption: "Assisted by Pa iple. . « sthe medical officer weighed, 
measured, and tagged mumerous seal pups and carefully recorded their growth 
and habits" (Byrd.1930: 144). This work was carried on in the Antarctic 
summer of 1928-1929. We have been unable to find further reference to the 
experiment. 
Alton Lindsey branded 243 Weddell seals in Antarctica in 1934 and 1935. 
He reported that "a five-foot wooden handle held a T-shaped iron holder con- 
teining three rectangular sockets. Into each socket was placed a number made 
on quarter~inch square iron rod." Both adults and young were branded, "When 
possible the brand was placed dorsally, a foot or two in front of the tail. 
The number first was clipped into the wool with shearg! (1937: 134). Three 
of the marked seals were recovered five and seven years later "within a very 
short distance of the point where they were branded. .. .»lhe numbers were 
recorded and measurements were made of the two that were captured" (Perkins 
1945: 279). Perkins published a photograph of one of the seals showing the 
number on its back, 
Branding, Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii), British - 
Columblas==0n September 5, 1940, near the mouth of the skeena River, a fisher- 
man shot a harbor seal bearing the brand X C on its back. We have been 
unable to find out who branded the animal”and why (Dean Fisher, letters of 
November 18, 1946 and April 10, 1948). 
Shearing, northern fur seal, Alaska.-~Each summer for many years on the 
Pribilor Islands it was the custom to mark a certain number of young male 
Beals as breeding reserves. Whenever they appeared later in the summer they 
were spared by the killing crew. As nearly as we can determine, over 60,000 
seals, most of them three-year olds, were treated during the reserving opera~ 
tions of 1904 to 1932, A round patch of fur was removed, with wool shears, 
from the top of the head, leaving a temporary mark that lasted throughout the 
sealing season. The operation was variously referred to as shearing, clipping, 
or branding although, strictly speaking, it was shearing. 
From 1904 to 1912, about 2,000 seals were reserved annually. From 1913 
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