56 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



will in most cases be tragic, and trapping need not make it much, if 

 any, more so. The death of a weasel at the hands of a trapper need not 

 be more cruel than death the weasel would inflict upon many other mam- 

 mals and birds if it were permitted to live. 



It must also be kept in mind that it is often necessary to trap or other- 

 wise dispose of many of the animals used in the fur trade in order to 

 keep them in check, especially in thickly populated districts. A few 

 weasels or minks probably do more good than harm, but if they became 

 very plentiful they would find their usual food scarce and turn to other 

 food, such as poultry and insectivorous birds, the destruction of which 

 would be harmful. Many rabbits and squirrels are now used in the fur 

 trade, but both are very destructive when they become overabundant. 

 Beavers are sometimes destructive, and the larger predatory mammals, 

 such as wolves, mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats, whose skins are 

 used in the fur industry, are all destructive to stock. 



The campaign against the use of furs upon the ground that exces- 

 sive trapping threatens the very existence of some of the more valuable 

 species has some support in the facts of the case. If the campaign were 

 directed toward the protection of the particular species most in danger, 

 with adequate laws regulating the trapping of all species, properly en- 

 forced, it might bring worth-while results. There is no necessity for 

 destroying the vast business, involving investment of millions of dol- 

 lars, giving employment to thousands of men and women. A considera- 

 ble part of the business is the handling of skins of animals that need 

 no protection, or at least not complete protection, such as rabbits, musk- 

 rats and squirrels; also the handling -of large quantities of furs from 

 animals raised on fur farms, where the value of the farm depends 

 upon keeping up the stock and caring for it, just as is the case with 

 domestic stock, such as cattle and sheep. 



Though some observers of the trend of affairs take a more optimistic 

 view of the future of the fur-bearing mammals than others do, yet all 

 must agree that if the use of furs continues to increase, or even remains 

 as great as at present, only radical measures for conservation, the in- 

 creased substitution of inferior furs of animals that breed rapidly, and 

 a marked increase in such activities as fur farming, can save some of 

 our best native fur-bearing animals from extermination. The rapid 

 increase in the demand, coincident with restriction of the range of many 

 species by advancing civilization, the clearing and cultivating of former 



