10 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



the enterprise of furriers should not be wholly discouraged, as, other- 

 wise, owing to the scarcity of really good fur, many ladies would have 

 to appear in worsted scarfs and mitts for six months of the year. The 

 pride they take in their 'ermines', 'foxes', 'minks' and 'chinchillas' 

 and in their bargain 'fishers' and black 'marten' would probably be 

 diminished if they knew they were only 'doctored' rabbit, marmot, 

 opossum and wallaby. 



All the artifices of the fur-dressers and dyers in pre- 

 Age^PassinE^^' paring the skins and of the furriers and jobbers in 



supplying fancy names for inferior stock have failed 

 to compensate for the decreasing supply of fur of good quality. It is 

 quite possible that the supply of all domestic animal skins like rabbit, 

 lamb, and kid can be indefinitely and rapidly increased to the limit of 

 demand, but it is not possible under present methods of breeding, to 

 secure an increasing supply of really good fur such as comes from 

 the carnivorous animals — notably the muslelida or weasel family — 

 unless they are domesticated. This one fact stands out prominently: 

 the hunting and trapping of wUd fur-bearing animals must be supple- 

 mented by their domestication if the demand for furs is to be 

 satisfied. 



The hunter-trapper age has passed its zenith. With the demand 

 exceeding the possible supply, more economical methods must be intro- 

 duced and the supply must be increased. The tearing up of trapped 

 animals by carnivorous mammals before the trapper can reach the traps 

 is common and represents a great loss. The killing of animals whose 

 pelts are not in prime condition represents a large armual loss of val- 

 uable fur. These and other wastes are eliminated when fur-bearers 

 are domesticated. 



Apart from economic considerations the cruelty involved 

 of Trapping ^^ trapping wild animals affords a powerful argument 



against the continuation of the practice. Trapping is 

 notoriously cruel and tends to destroy the finer fe'elings 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. Elliott Coues in his monograph 

 on the North American mustelidce, aptly describes the actions of a 

 mink when caught in a trap: 



"The tenacity of life of the mink is something remarkable. It 



