106 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



"In the first place, I wish to discuss the disadvantages of start- 

 ing on a small scale. Having a large number in a small place, will 

 cause them to crowd and fight and kill one another, while to have a 

 separate pen for each female is expensive. After the rutting season the 

 female will kill the male, apparently to protect her young. Skunks are 

 liable to a fatal disease, similar to sore throat or diphtheria. I have 

 known females that had no yoimg ones to take the young of other 

 mothers to their boxes and fight the real mothers away until the kid- 

 napped young starve to death. Others that had young would steal the 

 young of two or three others and then, having more than they could 

 care for, some would starve. 



"Another disadvantage in a small enclosure is this, that they get 

 so tame they come out in the daytime to feed and the exposure to 

 sunlight fades the fur to a certain extent. As it is also almost impossible 

 to supply a lot of skunks with the kind of food they get in the wild 

 state, it becomes necessary to substitute some other kind of food, 

 such as dead horses, cows, chickens, corn and various other things 

 which a man with a small lot cannot always have. If not fed properly, 

 they become cannibalistic. 



"Like every other business, skunk-raising requires capital; and 

 with some one who has capital, together with the experience and prac- 

 tical knowledge, I venture to say there is 50 to 100 per cent profit 

 in the business. To make a success, a man should have at least $2,500 

 to start with. At least one acre of ground should be enclosed with a 

 3-foot concrete wall in the ground, and about a 6-foot board fence on 

 top. This would probably cost $1,500. One should then secure at 

 least 100 females and 25 males. These would probably cost $300. 

 The remaining $700 would be needed to pay for feed and for a man to 

 take care of them. 



"The necessary attention would be to feed and water them and, in 

 the season of maternity, to see that the females do not steal one another's 

 young and crowd one another in the boxes. The males and females 

 should, of course, be separated. With good care 90 per cent of the 

 young should be raised. 



"Thirty years ago black skunk pelts sold at from 50 to 75 cents. 

 To-day they are one of the leading furs on the market, although they 

 are not known by their own names, but by various assumed ones. At the 

 present time, it is profitable to raise skunks for their fur. The demand 

 is now greater than the supply and is increasing because of the heaviness 

 of the fur, its fine texture, its good wearing qualities and strength. On 

 the other hand, the supply is decreasing for various reasons. The 

 large forest and prairie fires, devasting large sections so that neither 

 bug, snake, nor fur-bearing animal can exist, and the high price which 



