The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-12-01
CRUELTY IN SEAL HUNTING.
These Harmless and Inoffensive Ami.
mails Have Been Killed in Great
Numbers

mails Have Been Killed in Great
Numbers.
AS the season approaches when
fur clothing in great variety is de-
manded by those who would appear
to be dressed fashionably, one cannot
help being painfully reminded of the
cruelty practiced in the hunting and
killing of animals.
Such methods OF obtaining the
pelts of fuF-bearing animals as have
been used for years make a record of
greater horrors and cruelties than
are known in the history of savage
races. II men and women, whether
possessed of humanitarian instincts
or not, were to see and realize what
atrociously inhumane acts are COM
mitted in the taking of animals and
stripping them of their skins, often
while the animals are still alive, 1t is
safe to say that they would renounce
fur as an article of dress. at least,
so long as 1t is obtained under such
cruel conditions.
How many wearers of fur stop to
consider that the softest and most
delicate sealskins or the Llama, As
trakhan, and Persian lamb which
they prize so highly and for which
they are willing to pay almost any
price, are the skins of unborn ami
mails taken by a process indescrib-
ably cruel?
The fur seal has been 80 wantonly
slaughtered that its extinction is
threatened. According to DR.. David
Starr Jordan there we're. in 1885,
100000 seals on our islands. That
number has now been reduced to
$1,000. These harmless and inof-
fensive animals have been killed of
so rapidly that 1t is doubtful IL any
thing short of laws giving them alb
solute protection throughout the year
and making it a crime to wear their
fur will save the few that now re-
main.
The story of the egret and the
cruelty of the plume hunter, SO often
told in Our Dumb Animals. is a ter
rible indictment against the wearers
of the white badge of cruelty" but
the destruction of the fur seal
through the brutality of the merci
less seal hunter is even greater
and more shameful one.
The season for hunting the seal
occurs twice a year, in spring and
autumn. The fur is in good condi-
tion at such times, and continues SO
only for about one month. Hence
the great haste to make a sufficient
killing to supply the demands of
fashion. On land and sea this butch
cry takes place; in the rookeries the
killing is done with clubs and pixies,
and on sea by shooting and spear
ing, in either case, without discrimi-
nation between old or young, male
or female.
The testimony of DIR. Jordan. who
was recently appointed by the United
States government to investigate the
condition of fur seals, is astound-
ing.
"If the destruction of these ami
mails shall continue" he says, their
complete determination within few
years appears to be certain. The
cruelty of this murderous process is
appalling. Since pelagic sealing be-
gan more than 900. 900 fur seals have
been taken in the North Pacific and
Behring Sea. This means the death
of not less than 100000 breeding
females, the starvation of 100000
pups, and the destruction of 0,000
pups still unborn. Nor do these
dreadful figures tell the whole story.
In this calculation. account is taken
wrIr NJ nA 4nh m
have been brought to America. No
record of the animals lost after being
shot or speared is available, though
the number is known to be very
great"
And there Is still more to be add
ed to this heart-sickening tale OF
cruelty. Land sealing is carried on
with even greater brutality. In an
article contributed by Captain Borch-
grevink to the Century Magazine, he
says: "As a rule, the slaughter and
skinning of the seals were most bar
barous, bloody. and hideous-unnec-
essarily 30. Specially cruel is the
task when seal pixies are used. Only
rarely does a seal die from one or
two blows of the pike. and II 1t Is
not dead 1t is generally considered
all the better" for 1t is easier to
skin a seal while it is half alive. In
the utmost agony the wretched beast
draws its muscles away from the
sharp steel, which tears away its
skin. and thus assists in parting with
its own coat"
From such descriptions as these,
taken from reliable sources, no one
can escape the conviction that in the
methods of seal killing there are
committed the greatest known cruel
ties. Far from the bounds OF civili-
cation and away from humanizing
influences, inhuman beings may be
found who will do the deeds Of mur-
derers and fiends.