-2- 



In the meantime, government scientists and f-ur farmers are demonstrating 

 that ftir aniimals can he raised in captivity and that the f-ur produced is of 

 hetter quality than the fur from a^aimals capt-uxed in the wild. There are now 

 over 5,000 fur farms in this country and Alaska, and "between twenty and 

 tv\renty-f ive million dollars is invested in the business. And these figujres 

 don't include the vast areas of privately owned muskrat marshes in many 

 sections of this coimtry which are operated as fur farms, 



last year, Mr. Ashhrook says, there were about 80,000 silver-fox skins 

 produced on fox farms in the United States, and Canada. S'ifteen years ago 

 there were not over a hundred silver fox pelts offered for sale in a year's 

 time. The enormous prices paid for silver-fox skins led trappers to dig 

 fox pups out of their dens and try to raise them in captivity. Success in 

 these efforts started a boom of fur farming. There was at first a lot of 

 "wild-cat" fur farming \)y foxy promoters, and there were disappointments due 

 to mistakes in the new business of folks who didn't laiow foxes. 



J'or instance, at first, foxes were treated as scavengers. They were 

 were forced to eat refuse and to live in filth. IJaturally, such conditions 

 produced poor foxes with poor fur. 



Of course, fur bearers are not domesticated stock in the ordinary 

 sense of the word. They are still wild although raised in captivity. But 

 fur farming is like any other livestock raising in that the fvr farmer 

 should know his stock and understand animal feeding, and breeding, and manage*^- 

 ment. As with other kinds of livestock, sanitation is essential. Put 

 animals need clean food and clean surroundings to prevent diseases and ke"#p 

 them in good condition. They must be kept in good condition to produce g&od 

 fur if they are to pay for their keep, and give the farmer a fair profit. 



The United States Biological Survey maintains a Fur -Animal Escperiment 

 Station at Saratoga Springs, Hew York, and a Rabbit Experiment Station at 

 Fontana, California. And, in cooperation with the Medical School of the 

 University of Minnesota, it is doing research work on fur -animal diseases. 



The idea is to find out things of value about all kinds of fur 

 animals now being raised on f-ur farms in this co-untry. At the ExoerLment 

 Stations investigations are made of the best management practices regard- 

 ing feeding, breeding, and housing and the control of diseases and parasites 

 to which f-ur bearers are subject. 



Getting back to silver foxes, Mr. Ashbrook estimates that ninety-nine 

 per cent of all the silver-fox f-ur produced in this co-untry is from, animals 

 raised on fur farms. This means that so far as silver fox f-ur is concerned, 

 fur farming is practically the whole thing. 



Silver fox farming is, however, the longest established of our f-ur- 

 farming bu.sinesses. The total of furs produced on f-ur farms is but a drop 

 in the bucket compared to the total f-ur production from the wild, 



Btit following on the heels of the silver fox farmers, others have 

 gone in for mink and muslcrat raising. Minks are not hard to raise in 



