11. Early Attempts to Domesticate the Fox 



IT would be futile to record all the early attempts to rear foxes in 

 captivity and note has, therefore, been made of the experiences of 

 only a few breeders at widely separated points. The experimenters, in 

 most cases, were wholly unacquainted with the experience of others. 



It has been customary for trapper-farmers to keep alive foxes 

 caught in warm weather until the fur is prime. Thus, young foxes 

 captured in July are kept until December before being killed. The 

 earliest authentic record obtained of rearing young from foxes kept in 

 captivity comes from Tignish, P.E.I., where Benjamin Haywood reared 

 several litters some thirty-five years ago, but they were destroyed by 

 the parent foxes because they were not kept in seclusion and quiet. 

 Doubtless there have been, in earlier years, numerous cases that 

 were as successful as Mr. Haywood's, but it is interesting to record this 

 experiment because he was a near neighbour of the men who finally 

 achieved the greatest success in the commercial fox-breeding industry. 



Several furriers in Quebec have been connected with breeding ex- 

 periments. Messrs. Paquet Bros, had a small ranch once at St. Joseph- 

 d'Alma near the head of the Saguenay, which they finally sold. Eevillon 

 Freres were interested in a ranch on the North shore of the gulf of 

 St. Lawrence a dozen years ago, but finally abandoned the experiment 

 believing that fox raising was destined to fail. Holt, Renfrew & Co. 

 have a ranch near Quebec and have reared a litter of silver foxes from 

 a pair of exhibition foxes in their menagerie at Montmorency Falls. 

 In Ontario, Eev. George Clark, of St. Catharines, an experienced 

 breeder of pheasants, bred a litter of reds from a pet pair of wild foxes 

 in 1905. Two ranches were started about 1906, near North Sydney, 

 and on the Lingan Road near Sydney, N.S., respectively, but, after 

 several years, they failed to maintain the foxes in breeding condition. 

 These were later sold to Bruce, Cummings, McConnell and others, who 

 have proved to be successful ranchers. 



Excellent success in breeding the fox has been achieved by 

 Breeders Mr. Johann Bcctz, at Piastre Baie, North shore, Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, and Mr. T. L. Burrowman, of Wyoming, 

 Ontario. The former is the scion of a wealthy Brussels family, and 

 his roving spirit led him to Labrador and Alaska on hunting expedi- 

 tions. He finally settled at Piastre Baie, about 1898, and attempted fox 

 ranching with a pair of silver foxes brought from Alaska. Tliere were 

 trees at several points in the neighbourhood, and at some ten or twelve 

 wooded spots, a hundred or more rods from his dwelling, he kept his 

 pens, having two females and one male at each point. He adopted the 



