118 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



overhair that makes the silver fox one hundred times more valuable 

 than his red full-brother. Some kinds of animals, as, for example, 

 the beaver and the otter, have overhair which is not always considered 

 as beautiful as the underfur alone. Thus, they are put through a process 

 of pulling and the manufactured skins are usually plucked. 



Usually animals intended for slaughter are fed well and are 

 Killing carefully housed so that no injury can be done the overhair, 

 such as from rubbing, the attachment of burrs or from lying 

 in dirt. The kUling presents no difficulty except that it must be done 

 so as not to alarm the breeding animals. Therefore, in most cases, the 

 animals to be slaughtered should be removed to the finishing pens in 

 the autumn. The fox is usually killed by crushing the chest with the 

 foot, a man's weight applied just back of the foreleg being sufficient, or 

 a blow with a stick on the snout, or the head may be forced back until 

 the neck is broken. 



The information available indicates that the adoption of some more 

 humane method of killing, such as the use of chloroform or ether, would 

 not injure the fur and, at the same time, be far more merciful. A small 

 padded box with a wad of cotton batting in one of the upper comers 

 upon which chloroform could be dropped from a hole in the corner of the 

 box would be all that would be required. As soon as it is dead, the ani- 

 mal should be removed from the chamber. In the case of such a valuable 

 animal as this, it is not too much to expect of ranchers that they pro- 

 vide one of these inexpensive lethal chambers. 



Poisons that are available are: cyanide of potassium, prussic acid, 

 strychnine and white arsenic. A very small quantity of cyanide or of 

 prussic acid will kUl the fox instantly, but, as these drugs are exces- 

 sively poisonous, it is dangerous to have them in one's possession unless 

 securely locked up. Strychnine and white arsenic do not kill imme- 

 diately, and, if another animal ate the flesh of an animal poisoned by 

 them, it would be poisoned in turn. 



Skunk, on account of its liability to scent, presents the greatest 

 problem. It can be removed from its regular pen, however, by a wire 

 snare placed on the end of a long pole. It is then dispatched outside 

 its pen by the usual method of clubbing. If scenting is- feared, it may 

 be drowned in a tub of water. 



g. . . There are two distinct methods of removing the skin. Some 

 and Curing animals are opened down the belly, as in skinning a sheep, 

 and the skins are stretched flat or 'open.' Others are 

 slit up the hind legs to the vent and the skin is stripped off the rest 

 of the body. These are stretched by a board wedged inside and are 



