Alabama, 1913. 63 



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FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 



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IN PRISTINE times Alabama abounded in fur-bearing animah.. 

 Enormous fortunes were made by fur-trappers who traversed 

 the State, especially along the water-courses where they bought 

 up the skins of these animals from the Indians and early settlers 

 and floated their rich cargoes down the Alabama river to Mobile 

 on rafts or flat-boats, or down the Tennessee to Paducah, Kentucky. 

 Even after this State became populated with white settlers the 

 business of trapping continued to thrive for many years. 



No semblance of protection has ever been furnished even the 

 most valuable of our fur-bearing animals, such as beaver, otter 

 and mink. They have been taken at will at all seasons of the 

 year, regardless of the fact that during the spring, summer and 

 early fall months the fur is practically worthless, and now these 

 valuable quadrupeds are nearing the point of extinction. 



Many States prohibit the taking of otter and beaver at any 

 time of the year. The constantly diminishing resources of this 

 State, as it consists in fur-bearing animals, should be protected 

 by providing that these quadrupeds can only be taken during the 

 winter months, and that those, trapping for them on the lands other 

 than their own, cannot do so legally without having first had duly 

 issued to them a trapper's license. 



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