Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-08-07

The Pribylov Islands in Boring Sea
world where there are no mosquitoes
and no house flies They will soon be
equally devoid of fur seals. No final
edict Oh the subject has been issued
yet, but 1t Is practically certain that
before long the government will decide
to slaughter the entire herd, thus wip-
Ing out the species completely and final
~, so far as the waters Of the North
Pacific are concerned.
1t is a great misfortune. When Sec
rotary Seward paid to Russia 1900
600 for Alaska most people thought him
very foolish. 1t was asserted that the
addition of an Arctic province to Uncle
Sans domain could not be in any way
profitable, so bleak and barren a re-
gion being necessarily unproductive.
Nevertheless, since that time the fur
seals alone have yielded profit of
$3O,OOOOOO.
We might have derived from this
source 100000 year for all time to
come without reducing the number of
the seals. In fact, the herd might have
been largely increased by judicious pro-
lection. But now this income is lost
forever and, to consider another mis-
fortune in the case, 10000 persons in
England who have been employed hith-
erto In the business of preparing the
skins for market will shortly be de
prived Of their means of livelihood.
When we acquired Alaska from Rus
sia we obtained exclusive property
rights $50 1t was understood) over the
eastern half of Boring Sea, which up
to that time had been regarded as q
maritime lake belonging to the car.
This half included the Pribylov Is
lands-which, by the way, were not
discovered until a little over a cen
tury ago, owing mainly to the circum-
stances that they are shrouded in al
most perpetual fog With the islands,
Of course, went the fur seals; and we
might have succeeded In protecting and
preserving the latter for an indefinite
period, if only 1t had been their habit
to spend all Of their lives in the near
neighborhoOd Of the Pribylov group.
Unfortunately, however, the seals
merely visit the Pribylov Islands In the
summer time, for breeding purposes,
leaving them In November and return
Ing in June. The rest Of the year they
spend In q migratory voyage to more
southern waters, the herd finding it's
nf
latitude some distance south Of San
Francisco, and thereupon turning north
ward again. Having studied this habit
Of theirs, 1t has been an easy matter
for the masters of vessels specially
equipped for this sort of fishery to
follow along with the herd throughout
It's entire migration, and to kill off the
animals at leisure.
Sometimes the seals, under such cir
cumstances, are speared while sleeping
on the water, but usually they are shot.
When shot, unless instantly killed they
dive, and, as result, nine out of ten
of those fatally injured are lost. Ac
cordingly, it is estimated, that the can
ture Of 100000 seals by this means in
volved the destruction of about i OOO.-
600. II exposed TO attack in no other
way, the herd could not survive such
defamation for an indefinite period
but, to complete the deadly work. the
seal hunters pursued the practice Of
coasting in the vicinity Of the island.
and destroying the females as they ven
tured out to sea In pursuit Of fish for
food
When an animal is asSailed OF IFS
breeding grounds, It is surely doomed
in as much as natures opportunity of
multiplying che species Is cut off. Thus
It has been with the fur seals. Every
female killed in the vicinity Of the
Islands left one or more pups on shore
to starre to death, and In this man
ner, year after year, tens Of thousands
Of the young persisted miserakly. No
wonder, then that within the last
thirty years tho roCkeries OF the Priby-
low group have been rendered almost
barren Of the piRrlped inhabitants, the
herd, being reduced in numbers dur
Ing that period from about 100000
to 1T5,000-the present estimate.
AgaInst such depredations Of our
own people effective measures might
have been adopted, but our government
has been almost helpless to deal with
the Canadian poachers, all efforts 30