Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-03-30
sKINNING SEALS.
The Cruel Manner In Which the
Operation Is Performed.
Description OF = Scene which II DuplI-
GATED Many Times In . Year-Some-
thing for Kind Hearted Young
Ladies' to Ponder Over.


raised all over the land against the
cruelty of skinning birds alive to make
feather ornaments for hats.
1t is not generally known that atroc-
tiles fully as cruel are committed by
the fur seal hunters who provide the
peltr1es from which seal-skin cloaks
are made to envelop the fair forms and
the tender hearts of American wives
and daughters.
z. Ii. Wells thus describes an Incl
dent which he witnessed last spring
while crossing the North Pacific from
Kadiak island to Sitka, Alaska. in a
sealing schooner.
1--WE were drifting slowly eastward
one warm April evening, the light
breaths of air which famed the sails
causing scarcely ripple on the surface
OF the ocean. Fur seals were living
asleep on every side of Us, their mo-
tionless, dark bodies half out of water.*
appearing like pieces of drift wood. It
was the time of the annual seal mipra-
ton to the PrybiloR islands, the ami
mails coming northward from the vast
expanse of southern waters.
''The captain and his alert crew were
provided with heavy rifles and shot
guns for killing seals, and it was not
long before had an opportunity TO wit
ness the operation of taking seals in the
Pacihc-a method totally different from
that employed on the shores of the
Prybiloffs, in Behring sea.
standing with an Aleut native In the
bow OF our little vessel, spotted seal
asleep several hundred yards ahead. It
seemed probable that we would run
over the creature If nothing occurred
70 disturb its slumber.
81 fastened back to the cabin. and
picking up heavy four-bore shotgun
loaded with buckshot returned to the
bow intent on getting that seal. Then
noticing the Aleut hunter still standing
there, concluded that he could doubt
less do better shooting than l could on
the deceptive ocean, and turned the
weapon over to him with the advice to
shoot that seal.
"As he slowly poised the ponderous
weapon containing unknown quantities
OF volcanic energy stepped briskly be-
hind to be out of range of possibilities.
Ny experience with pot-metal Indian
guns had been sufficient to make me
skeptical as to their cohesiveness.
1.-The Aleut pulled the trigger and a |
mighty boom rolled out over the sea.
while the shot went whistling over its |
surface, and with dull 'plunk' entered
the body of the sleeping seal.
"There was a wild thrashinQ of the
waters.
/ "'We've hit SEAL exclaimed some
body, and there was rush for the life |
boat towing astern of the schooner. |
The seal must be reached quickly be- |
fore 1t sank. Several men Jumped into |
the boat, seized the oars and padded |
away for the seal, which |
still lay laundering on the water, not
g hundred yards from the vessels bow.
They reached it in time and an
Aleut' by dexterous manipulation born
81 long experieace, fooped the slippery
ANIMAL into the boat.
"a few nom ents later we all gath
cred round the gasping creature as IL
lay upon the deck, while one of the
an experienced hand at skim
ming seals, barred his long, sharp knife
and prepared to remove the pelt
''He made several cuts about the flip
L
breathing hoarsely, it's chest rising and
falling systematically. XIII that beast
1 exclaimed, before you skin itr
HE obeyed, or attempted to, by cut
ting long cash across the creatures
throat.
BLOOD flowed forth in torrents and
covered the deck. The struggling
ceased and thought that death had en-
sued. The hunter proceeded with his
sl1inning operations and the pelt was
about one-third removed when was
Mortified by another loud gasp from the
seal and renewal of the heavings of
the chest. Evidently IL was not dead
and was undergoing tortured
XIII it, cried, and the man with
one long, slashing cut ripped the ami
NAL open and partially disembowled it.
Then, with dexterous movements of
the knife, he rapidly continued to re-
move the pelt and had almost separated
It from the body when another noise
came from the seal It's mouth opened
and 1t breathed hoarsely once more.
81 could scarcely believe my eyesl
There lay creature alive, yet skinned,
and its blood lying in
pools on the deck.
"'Cut its heart outp CALCULATED, un-
able longer to bear the sight of the APP
parent suffering.
The hunter reached his hand inside
of the carcass and plucked forth the
heart It was warm and throbbed
regularly. Cut loose from the body and
held out in the hand it continued to
70 hn luaa
for fully three minutes with unfailin9
1t was a grewsome sight.
''But the seal was now dead lie no
longer breathed nor moved. A feeling
of relief swept over me.
"'Do they usually die that hard?
"'Oh, yes replied the hunter, coolly
They always act that way when we
skin them
Thousands of seals are taken every
year by schooners in the northern
Pacific and Behring sea and are skinned
alive by their heartless captors, who
will not take the trouble to kill them
The creature dies harder than almost
any other animal, and, as it is warm
blooded and sensitive, no doubt under
goes torture equal to any that could
possibly be inflicted. There is no SEM
blance to unconscious muscular activity
In it's case, as in the turtle.
"The pelt of that fur seal whose cap
ture witnessed has by this time been
dyed, and probably now adorns the
shoulders of some fair girl or matron
who would shrink from iphicting pain
even upon q mouse"
Presented with Artificial Eyes.
There are two girls in New York city