214 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 



The frequent changes in fashion that cause wide fluctuations in 

 market prices are probably the salvation of many species of fur-bearing 

 animals by giving them a chance to recuperate during the periods when 

 their hides are not in demand. 



The preparation of most skins for shipment is easy; they are simply 

 cleaned of fat and meat and are dried in a cool place. 



Fur Farming. It is probable that almost any of the fur-bearing 

 animals may be profitably raised in captivity; as a matter of fact a 

 number of them, the fox, skunk, muskrat, and others, are already so 

 raised, the colder latitude of Canada, especially along the coasts, being 

 the most suitable region for many of them. The necessary conditions, 

 of course, vary with the species, and the habits of the animals to be 

 handled must be carefully studied. There are several reasons for 

 encouraging the domestication of the fur-bearing animals besides 

 merely as a profitable venture. 



In the first place unless they be so raised manyof them will doubtless 

 become extinct. Again the old methods of the trapper were very waste- 

 ful, many pelts being damaged by the traps and by larger carnivorous 

 animals that fed on the smaller ones caught by the traps; these methods 

 were wasteful also in catching and killing many animals whose fur 

 was not in good condition. Lastly 



"Apart from economic considerations the cruelty involved in trapping 

 wild animals affords a powerful argument against the continuation of the 

 practice. Trapping is notoriously cruel and tends to destroy the finer feelings 

 of those engaged in the business. 



" Trappers visit their lines only two or three times a week, and in the 

 interval the captured animals, in most cases suffering excruciating pain, are 

 exposed to frost, hunger, their natural enemies, and finally, their arch- 

 enemy man . . . When it is remembered that millions of animals are 

 captured yearly in traps the sum total of their suffering must be so great that 

 the cruelty practised on dumb domestic animals, which so greatly concerns 

 the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, must seem slight in 

 comparison. The methods of killing domestic animals are humane and 

 painless, and it would seem that humane considerations alone present a 

 sufficient argument for the domestication of fur-bearing animals (162)." 



According to Jones the first fur-bearing animals to be raised under 

 domestication were the various Karakul sheep, Fig. 135, whose lambs, 

 for a few weeks (during which time they are killed) have the tightly 



