FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 81 



failing can be overcome by giving them sufficiently normal conditions. 

 In their wild state they are in no danger of extermination. Man is their 

 only enemy worth considering and owing to their wandering habits and 

 keen intelligence, they have little to fear from any bnt the most ex- 

 perienced trapper. They have held their own over thickly settled parts 

 of the United States better than any other animal of equal fur value. 

 They still inhabit most of their original range over the country, never 

 in abundance, but scattered one or two in a stream or lake. They are 

 apparently as common around the suburbs of "Washington and in settled 

 sections generally, as in most of the wilder but more trapped forest 

 areas of the country. 



'' Full-grown Canadian otters are about 4 feet in total 

 General 

 Characteristics length and weigh approximately 20 to 30 pounds. Their 



striking characteristics are long, lithe bodies, tapering 



into long, muscular, flattened tails; very short legs, fully webbed hind 



feet; short ears, keen little eyes and a beautiful coat of dense, dark 



brown fur. They are weasel-like in their quickness, extremely muscular 



and for their size fearless and savage fighters. 



^. . .. . " Many kinds of otters occur in different parts of the 



Distribution i i i i , -, 



and Variation world, but the largest and most valuable for fur are 



those of North America, Luira canadensis, and its 

 several closely related subspecies or geographic varieties. Considering 

 their wide range from Labrador to Alaska and from near the Arctic 

 coast to Florida and Arizona, they show surprisingly little variation 

 in size or in colour or quality of fur. This is, of course, owing to 

 their aquatic habits and to the nearly uniform temperature of water 

 in winter over almost the whole continent. The average lower price 

 of southern otter skins may be due largely to the fact that most are 

 caught before the midwinter cold has brought them up to prime con- 

 dition. It seems not improbable that with dark otters from eastern 

 Canada to breed from, a high-grade of fur might be produced over most 

 of the southern states where no other high-priced fur could be success- 

 fully raised. Tlie abundance of fish and crustaceans in many of the 

 southern streams would be a distinct advantage in the way of food 

 supply, and ideal situations for otter farms could be found on hundreds 

 of streams where a few of the animals now live in the wild state. 



" For breeding purposes otters with the most valuable coats 

 should be selected, preferably the very dark individuals from eastern 

 Canada, Labrador, Newfoundland or Maine. Considerable individual 

 variation is shown and the grade of fur could doubtless be steadily im- 

 proved by selective breeding. The largest individuals are from Alaska 



