The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-07-25
A DOG NURSES A SEAL.
A strange Foster Mother of a Baby OF
the Ocean.
Portland (Ore.) Letter.

the Ocean.
Portland (Ore.) Letter.
f. A. Stuhr on First street, is the own
er Of baby seal that has the strangest
foster mother that ever seal had. 1t
is nothing less than a curly-haired re-
triever dog named Belle, that has taken
q strange fancy to this little ocean
waif, and is giving it the nourishment
that it denies it's own offspring. The
strange attachment is returned by the
baby seal, which has known no other
parent, and when it is hungry ii bel
lows for it's foster mother and flops its
way across the floor to the dog. Mr..
Stuhr has had the seal since last Mon
day and the spectacle of big retriever
dog nursing so curious a baby keeps
crowd of spectators continually hang
ing about the place. The crowd does
not seem to bother either the dog or
the seal, though. and the latter appears
to be getting bigger and fatter every
day. When Mr.. Stuhr first received
the little fellow he despaired of being
able to raise It, but happy solution of
that difficulty seems to have been
found to the satisfaction of all parties
concerned, with possibly the exception
of the family of pups that Belle has de-
serted for her new baby. When Mr..
Stuhr, who is a bird fancier, received
the little fellow last Monday from one
of the collectors he employs to gather
specimens for his collection, 1t was not
moro than a day and a half old. The
collector, a Frenchman. had come
across the little seal and its mother on
the beach near Astoria the day before.
Upon seeing the man approaching the
mother seal took alarm and slid off
into the water. leaving its baby to shift
for itself. This the little seal seemed
to be able TO do and was just getting
into deep water when the Frenchman
cleverly headed il off, and after much
trouble captured 1t. He brought his
prize to Portland the next day and
turned il over to his employer. Mr.
Stuhr at first did not know what to do
with the little fellow. From certain in
dications he saw that the seal was only
few hours old. He first tried to
feed II with fish but the seal was too
young to eat. Then he tried 1t with a
bottle to which a rubber nipple was at
tached but met with no better success.
BY this time the seal was getting
hungry, for il had had nothing to eat
for twenty-four hours, and its owner
was afraid II was going to starve to
death. when Belle, the retriever, at
tracted by the persistent believing Of
the little animal, left her litter of pups
to see what was the matter with the
strange object that was squirming
around in the middle of the floor and
seemed to be causing her master so
much anxiety. No sooner had the dog
come near enough to the little seal
than Il began to flop feebly in her di-
rection. The dog stood still and quiz
city watched the stranger approach
her. until 1t was so near that it be-
gan to lift it's little head, and then
something about the baby seal must
have appealed to the mothers heart,
for she lay down and began to nurse
the little one as though II was the most
natural thing in the world to do. Mr..
Stuhr was delighted. though he found
that after nursing the seal the dog
would not return to her litter. which
yelped for her in vain. The seal Is a
pretty little fellow. gray in color and
with numerous black spots about the
size of small coin. Its coat Is as soft
to the touch as velvet and shines in the
sunlight like the finest satin.