  We assume that all the energy loss of the putative pulsar in SN 1987A would
contribute to the luminosity of the remnant, which acts like a bolometer. The
bolometric luminosity of SN 1987A provides an upper bound on the pulsar's rate
of energy loss. An isolated pulsar spinning down by magnetic dipole radiation
alone, with initial rotation periods of 10-30 ms, as extrapolated for galactic
young pulsars, can have a luminosity below the bolometric bound if either the
magnetic field is weak, B $\sim$ 10$^{9}-10^{10}$ G, or if it is so strong that
the pulsar luminosity decays rapidly, B $\sim$ 10$^{16}$ G.
