Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-03-26
The Threatened Extinction oil the Fur Seal.
Baltimore Sum


The House has passed the pingles
bill for the determination Of the Alaska
seal herd unless our government car
obtain the cooperation of the British
government in u new and effective eff
fort to save what remains Of the herd
from further depletion. The ningley
bill! has Also been favorabiy reported in
tho Senate, and was made the special
order not more thar n week ago but il
was displaced Ivy other business. Sen
ator Morgan is tho only member Of the
foreign affairs committee who is OPP
posed t. the measure. lie claims that
he regulations made by the Paris
tribunal are Sufficient for the protection
% the seals if properly enforced. Mr..
Morgan is evidently in the minority,
however. and the Indications all point
to The passage of the bill by the SEN
ate. The corporation which has a
tWenty-year contract With the United
States government, under the pro-
visions of which il is allowed to Kill
a certain number Of seals yearly, has
given notice that the passage Of the
proposed law win he regarded as a
breach of contract. This adds a new
computation 10 inc matter.
The Dinghy bill in detail provides
for killing the whole herd Of fur seals
" hen they land next summer on the
PrbyioN Islands, selling the skins and
covering the proceeds--estimated at
81 000 900 into the federal treasury.
This is regarded by its advocates as
good business policy, though ii seems
a sentimental pity that the once great
herd OF seals that made its home in
Behring sea should be completely des-
troyed. The doom Of the Behring sen
seals. however. appears To have been
fixed from the moment thatfour British
war vessels were detailed in 1892 to
follow the herd on their winter trip
from the islands and make a chart Of
It's course. AS soon as these charts
We're published to the scal-hunters all
was over.
In 1887 the Alaska herd numbered
abou- 6. 500 900 seals In 1895 they mum
bered only $4,000. They are pursued
and slaughtered ali the year round
and unless the British government
joins our own in treating scal-hunting
between November and June as piracy
on the high seas is treated. the exter-
iAil4A4iNl'tl ~ Aitf idNA y idShd seal II
close al hand This being the case
il is believed that 1t is better for US
falling such international action to XIII
the entire herd on it's return To The
islands next June, sell the skins for
what We can get and put an end to
the farce Of policing Behring sea with
war-ships. revenue cutters ana gov
eminent officials This policing bust
ness cost is over $500. coo last year and
accomplished nothing
The time is not far distant when the
slaI win be extinct in all the seas
Then the scalskin sacque win "a to
famine prices and finally disappear
forever 1t Is really amazing 10 look
back upon the destruction Of seal herds
during The past century A large herd
was discovered in 1772 in the Southern
Indian ocean. In twenty eight years
l,20ee00 SKINS were taken and the herd
was wiped out. N 1927 a great
herd was found IN the South Pacific.
hominS on an island off the coast Of
CIih. In seven Years 5000 000 skins
We're taken. and that herd WAS les
troyed. Captain Cook found two seal
Islands south of Cape Horn. and in a
few years not q seal was left there
The coast Of South America all about
Cape Horn teemed with seals when
discovered only q few straeglers re-
main
It is believed today that only three.
nerds areleft in the world, of which ne.
Alaska how'd is one. The other two are
located. one on the I.obcS islands, att
the mouth Of the river La Plata the
Bt her on lands pfr tho coast of L-o,,,