292 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



ranchers and companies should have used fur-bearing ani- 

 mals as a means to extract money from persons unfamiliar 

 with the business was only to be expected," he says. "Such 

 a condition is found in many other enterprises. The lack 

 of authentic information concerning the raw fur market 

 and the feeding, breeding, and management of fur-bearers 

 in captivity has made the work of deceiving the novice ex- 

 tremely easy." 



Mr. Ashbrook finds that, while much has been said and 

 written about the raising of skunks for profit, that unless 

 the prospective breeder stops to consider the matter care- 

 fully he may be seriously misled. He shows that from 

 1921 to 1923, the price of skunk pelts on the raw fur 

 markets of New York and St. Louis ranged from a few 

 cents for damaged skins to $6.20 for the very best grades, 

 and that the approximate average for all pelts was $2.19, 

 with a drop in 1923 to $1.86, brought about by a decline 

 in the German and Russian marts, heretofore the chief 

 skunk pelt buyers. 



"At present prices the feed for the maintenance of a 

 pair of skunks for a year would probably cost more than 

 two cents a day," he says. "To this must be added the 

 cost of labor connected with the care of the animals and the 

 initial investment in equipment, such as pens, dens, feed 

 dishes, and so on." 



The same general conditions are true in the case of 

 raccoons, Mr. Ashbrook finds. The highest price obtained 

 in recent years for the raw pelt of a raccoon of exception- 

 ally fine quality was $10. The approximate average for 

 all grades for three years was $3.15, and a pair of raccoons 

 will eat two or even three times as much as a pair of skunks 

 and this makes their feed cost for the year anywhere from 

 $14 to $21 and does not include the cost of equipment or 

 labor. 



Referring to attempts that are being made to raise 

 muskrats and beavers in confinement, Mr. Ashbrook be- 

 lieves, too, these should be classed as experiments and not 

 considered as established practices, and further observes: 

 "While certain waste lands may be useful for the produc- 



