TRAGEDY OF A SEAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 29 November 1929, Page 15

TRAGEDY OF A SEAL.

"CHUBBY CHARLIE'S" FATE.

INCIDENT OF THE FAR NORTH.

[FROM our own correspondent.]

VANCOUVER, Oct. 30. Out from the Arctic, for. a brief spell in civilisation, Sergeant F. Andevton, of the North;west Mounted Police, brings the story of "Chubby Charlie" to a world always eager to< hear of the life and activity of the. farthest north subjects of His Majesty—"The Big Boss," as he is known among the Eskimos.

C "Charlie" was a baby hair seal, » chubby, roly-poly little being, with the affection and trust of a puppy. His home was in Arctic waters around Cambridge Bay. Near the police vessel, the St. Roch, as she lay in the ice, he utilised a hole, from Which he hauled himself for an occasional breather.

Sergeant Andertons cultivated the little seal. With painstaking patience he gradually won the confidence of the marina puppy and in time one of his mowing jaunts was a "peace talk" with his pet. He would go to "Charlie's" "door," chip the ice that formed overnight and whistle for the seal, up from the depths of the ocean "Charlie" came, to haul out clumsily with his stubby little flippers and roll delighted as the sergeant tickled his ribs and petted him. Other men of ~th« post as they came in became his friends. The police dogs, each of which would eat a seal with gusto, came to know that "Charlie" was "protected." Sometimes, when the ice was not too thick, the seal would break his way, through and be lying-on the edge, awaiting his friend. One night a band of Eskimo hunters pitched their camp 09 a sandy spit near-by. When Sergeant Anderton rose next morning he found "Charlie". lying dead on the ice. With a roar of rage he went to the Eskimo camp and" extracted a pledge . that never again would they turn their dogs loose" near a police camp.