ANNUAL REPORT, 1936-37 



during the year now reported upon and the two years previous, and upon which 

 royalty was paid as required by provisions of the Game and Fisheries Act: — 



1933-34 



1935-36 



1936-37 



Bear 



Beaver 



Fisher 



Fox (cross) 



Fox (red) 



Fox (silver or black) 



Fox (white) 



Fox (not specified) 



Lynx 



Marten 



Mink 



Muskrat 



Otter 



Raccoon 



Skunk 



Weasel 



Wolverine 



2 



1 



63 



521 



3 



18 



73 



68 



341 

 ,336 

 ,297 

 ,224 

 ,534 



280 



89 



85 



,138 



,096 



,615 



,751 



,330 



,673 



,721 



,164 



5 



780,679 



411 



6,785 



2,137 



5,424 



37,044 



500 



883 



495 



2,642 



1,282 



47,057 



398,043 



3,701 



13,259 



50,747 



42,643 



4 



613,057 



476 



238 



2,117 



4,156 



35,232 



360 

 17 



276 

 2,081 

 1.464 



33.930 



370,239 



3,779 



14,243 



87,950 



78,643 



2 



635.203 



From information which was secured from reliable sources the Department has 

 computed the value of these pelts to be some $1,902,407.90, which was practically 

 the same, (as a matter of fact only four thousand dollars less), as the figure pro- 

 duced by the catch of the previous year. This figure, of course, is the actual value 

 of the fur catch to the trapper. 



This total does not include the product of licensed fur farms from silver, black 

 and blue foxes and mink, the pelts of which ranch raised animals are exempt from 

 the payment of royalty, under the Game and Fisheries Act. It will be of interest 

 to note that during the year 1936-37 licensed fur farmers marketed 28,619 silver 

 and black fox pelts, 24,297 exported and 4,322 tanned; and 15,691 mink, 15,623 

 exported and 5 3 tanned; which pelts together with the few blue fox pelts marketed 

 have been computed to have realized the total sum of $1,067,848.32 on behalf of our 

 fur-farmers. 



* 



FUR FARMING 



The propagation of fur bearing animals in captivity on licensed fur farms has 

 been established and developed as an industry to the stage where in point of values 

 accruing from the product thereof it is beginning to threaten the production of 

 fur from our wild life natural resources, and the time is probably not far distant 

 now when the value of the anual product of our licensed fur farms will exceed 

 that of the catch of our licensed trappers from the wild. Some native species can 

 be successfully propagated in captivity, and while the results which have been 

 evident to date perhaps do not suggest much in the way of economic possibilities, 

 experiments still continue though undoubtedly not to the same extent as in previous 

 years. It has been found that other species are not adaptable to domestic propa- 

 gation with a corresponding absence of satisfactory results. Consequently, for the 

 present, fur farmers would appear to be devoting the major portion of their efforts 

 to work with foxes principally silver and black, and to mink, they being the only 

 species raised in substantial quantities. 



While the prices which furs brought in the open market did not offer much 

 encouragement to prospective fur farmers, faith in the future of the industry 

 induced some to commence operations, which is apparent from the fact that the 

 number of fur farms operating under license during the year 1936 increased practi- 



