The Holbrook news., 1911-01-13
UNCLE SAWS SEALS
TWO FUR-BEARING ORPHANS
 ARE HIS ESPECIAL WARDS.
They Thrive and Show Way to Con serve Rich PeIts in the Waters of AIaska-Pups Induced
 to Eat Fish.

boys call ''fiipfiop;" Ennatha lperched high on the smooth rock in
 the center of the tank, Tapped first her right fiipper down and then left.
 making a sound not unlike that of a
 whack of a barrel stave on a stone pavement, and then dove off the
 rock into the water, going through the same performance her young
 mate had just completed.
 Atagh and Ennatha are two pup Ifur-seals. the only fur-seals in cap dvity, and are quartered at the United States bureau of fisheries in Washington. Atagh is a male and Ennatha is female. Both were born In July. 1909.
 I In the same month of the same year, James Judge, an assistant agent of the seal fisheries, a division of the bureau of fisheries, was on the Island of St. Paul, of the Pribilof group in the Behring sea, numerating the seals in Uncle Sam's fur-seal pos sessions. At the same time the United States revenue cutter Bear was doing patrol duty in the waters In the vicinity of Alaska. Among the crew of the Bear was a boatswain. Judson Thurber. quaint, quiet Yan- kee. with a reputaticl for observing much and saying little
 Many Seals Starving.
 About this time Mir. Judge and others of the seal fisheries were en- deavoring to find a means of saving the lives of thousands of seal pups who were starving to death. They were orphaned seals. having lost their mothers through the zeal and marksmanship of Japanese poachers. In desperation, Mir. Judge decided upon an oft-tried measure, that of feeding the pup seals milk from bottle. In October. 1909. while the Bear was at the Island of St. Paul, MT. Judge went to the largest rock cry on the island and selected two of the best looking three-months-old pups, male and female Doctor Car. roll of the public health and marine hospital service-surgeon on the Bear, was selected by Mir. Judge to make the experiment. and feed the pups.
 
 his efforts to make the pups suck nipple he broke the fraenum or skin which keeps the tongue of an infant seal fast to the mouth, at the gum. Boatswain Thurber had been an interested spectator during the experiment and when Doctor Fox gave up in despair Thurber adopted the pups for pets, never dreaming that they would live any great while or that he would ultimately solve the problem of feeding pup seals. One afternoon with the pups aboard ship, he noticed that their tongues would occasionally hang from their mouths like a dogs and unlike any other seal pup he had ever seen. His curiosity was aroused and he watched the pups more attentively. It suddenly flashed across his mind that the faenum of both seals had either been broken or cut, and he immediately began to figure out how these pups could feed them selves.
 Main Diet Is Fish.
 The diet of the seal is fish, which they catch while swimming about the waters in the vicinity of their rookery. Thurber bore this in mind and procured large fish. He then cut it into strips and tied these strips on the end of long piece of | tvine. Next he carried the pups hack to the Island of St. Paul and | had them put in a tank of water l there. The pups began swimming l about the tank and Thurber knew | then that they were capable of help i ing themselves to a certain extent. | While the seals were swimming 1 about. Thurber would drag the | pieces of fish through the water in | front of them.
 At first the pups paid no atten- ton to them, but Thurber was pa- | tient and stuck to his task After almost three days of fish-dragging | the male pup finally took notice of the fish and grabbed it Thurber, for fear the pup would let go, cut the | twine holding the piece of fish and | the pup immediately swallowed it. He evidently enjoyed the morsel, for as soon as Thurber began tralling the second piece of fish through the water in front of the female pup the young male grabbed fish. string and all and swallowed that Thurber then had the pups put in separate tanks and after a two-days' trial sue ceeded in making the young female eat After this he fed them by hand and it was only a few days before the pups began to look for his coming and the strips of fish Little did Thurber realize that he had hit upon the only feasible method of saving the lives of thousands of pup seals. and ultimately thousands of belts for the market.
 Boatswain Thurber's success elated MT. Judge, and the latter immediate