The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-10-14
ONLY A FEW REMAIN.
Seals i'm Boring Sea Can Now
Be Counted.
WILL LAST BUT A LITTLE WHILE
Pups of Slaughtered Mothers Starve
by Thousands Measures to Pre-
vent AnnihfIation.

81 believe that measures viii be adopted
by the United States and Great Britain
during the coming winter for the future
adequate protection of the remnant of the
seal herd in Boring sea and the Pacific
ocean were the words spoken by Judge
Joseph B. Crowley. of Illinois. special
treasury agent in charge of the seal islands,
Alaska, to a representative of the Post-Tn-
tellsgencer al the Butler hotel last evening.
THE duties of the treasury agents in
charge of the seal islands are not unpleas-
ant TO perform said Mr.. Crowley. They
consist In carrying out orders of the secre-
tary OF the treasury as 10 the maximum
ally by the lessees, with discretionary
power TO the special agent to permit only
such number 10 be taken as the condi-
tons of the rookeries afford.
Les>ees Anxious to Protect the Herd.
THE old-time idea that friction existed
between the agents of the lessees and the
government as TO the number OF seals TO
be taken annually has been exploded. The
lessees' agents are as anxious TO take only
such numbers Of young male seals each
year as tends toward the building up OF
the rookeries for the future. They were
permitted TO take 5000 skins this season.
This is a small number when compared
with the 10000 taken by the Alaska Com
mercial Company each year for twenty
StfAA = 1 Ct the TAX on JFe ToOheFIeS To-Day
is even greater when 1900 skins are taken
than it was when 100 600 We're taken.
An Effect OF Pelagic sealing.
you ask me the cause OF this? 1t is
the result OF pelagic sealing The fact that
we were enabled 10 take 1900 seals each
of the past two years need not be regarded
as an evidence that a like number can
be taken next year or the one following.
During the tendency of the modus vivendi
no seals were taken in Boring sea. This
gave the COW herd chance to rest and re-
cuperate. The pups born on the rookeries
during those years did not starve to death
by reason of their mothers having been
killed at sea, hence they became of kill
able size last year and this.
Arbitration the Worst of Farces.
cot all the farces ever perpetrated the
Boring sea arbitration was the worst.
When the Paris tribunal decided TO make
the killing OF seals legal in the Bering sea
outside sixty mile zone inscribing the
seal islands, they could not have arranged
it better for the pelagic sealers, and the
early extinction of the seal herd, had that
been their object. In the latter part Of
July and all OF August and September the
seal cows leave the rookeries and go TO sea
to feed. They swim out as far as 200 miles
TO obtain food. The facts obtained by the
officers of the several vessels of the Amer
lean fleet patrolling in Boring sea show
that the most successful sealing grounds
are from eighty 10 100 miles distant from
the islands
Motherless Purs Starve by Thousands.
Twenty thousand dead pups were actu-
ally counted on the rookeries of the seal
islands in the fall OF 1894. Their death was
evidently caused by starvation, Their
mothers having been killed at sea. The
damage TO the herd this year bids fair to
be greater. The sealing fleet is larger.
There was taken from the herd belong
ing TO the seal islands during the year
1874 10000 seals. This total includes the
catch in the Pacific. in the Berlng sea and
the young bachelor seals. taken on the
islands by the North American CONNER
cial Company. The seal herd has decreas-
ed 10 the extent that they can now he
counted. The naturalists from all parts
OF the world are clamoring for specimens,
anticipating the herds extinction"
The Bering sea fleet commanded by
Capt, Hooper, OF the Eush, Mr. Crowley
says. performed most difficult service dur
ing the entire summer.
Mr.. Crowley is accompanied by his wife
and little daughter. and with Assistant
Special Agent Judge and Mrs. Judge. came
down on the cutter Grant. guests OF Cant
ToZier. The voyage was extremely pleas
ant. and the passengers expressed many
regrets when the journey was at an end.