38 ZOOLOGICAL 
COAT OF 
OCELOT, GENET AND BEAVER 
Value, $450. 
It contains about 22 ocelot and 3 beaver skins. 
lieve in any unnecessary cruelty, either in the 
killing of wild animals or domestic animals, but 
there is plenty of both. The proper course of 
humane people is to reduce it to an irreducible 
minimum. 
Tue Batance or Nature 
Ever since the days of primitive man, and 
according to their needs, the carnivorous fur- 
bearers have killed and devoured other verte- 
brates whenever they could be caught; and man 
SOCIETY BULLETIN 
has killed the fur-wearers to supply his own 
needs. We need not quarrel with those two 
fundamental laws of nature, for they are as 
fixed and unshakable as the Rocky Mountains. 
On the other hand, it is a right good thing 
that man’s needs have caused him to keep down 
the increase of predatory animals by killing and 
utilizing the surplus. Had this not been done, 
many species of land birds and mammals now 
living would have been exterminated, and only 
the largest, the strongest and the fleetest would 
have survived. 
Not merely at the risk, but in the absolute 
certainty of arousing resentment and criticism, 
we feel compelled to say that the fur trapper 
has his legitimate place in the economy of nature. 
We believe in fur, in moderation, just as we do 
in the Constitution—minus some of its amend- 
ments. 
But it is easy for the trapper to overplay his 
hand, and leave behind him lifeless wastes. To- 
day the world is trapping not wisely but too 
well. Too much trapping can be just as ill 
balanced as no trapping. 
It is the duty of the fur trade to get together 
and take steps to regulate the trapping business, 
to stop waste and abuses, to stop using species 
that should not be used, and provide for a con- 
tinuance of the legitimate fur trade. 
There are many species that now should be 
stricken off the list. Among those that most 
readily come to mind are the mouflon, koala 
(“wombat”), chinchilla, sea otter and _ all 
monkeys. 
Toe Fur Trape’s Greatest Errort 
For several years prior to 1920 we noticed in 
the columns of the Fur Trade Review the fact 
that in the West very keen rivalry existed in the 
ranks of the fur dealers in the buying of raw 
furs. By means of tempting circulars and dis- 
play advertisements, trappers were urged to 
trap to the utmost, and boys and men who were 
not trappers were urged to enter that field of 
activity. 
So strong was the appeal to the American 
boy that we were called upon to contribute to 
Boy's Life, the official magazine of the Boy 
Scouts of America, an article on “The Ethics 
of Trapping by Boys.” Briefly stated, we took 
the position that trapping is not necessarily a 
wicked pursuit and that it is a legitimate indus- 
try, but that its unavoidable cruelties are so 
serious a factor that we do not advise boys to 
engage in it. 
As fortune ordered it, this great campaign of 
advertising and exhortation was followed by 
