SILVER FOX FARMING. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Of all the products derived from wild animals, furs are the most 

 useful and valuable. Indispensable to primitive man, they are 

 scarcely less important to the most civilized, for in warmth, beauty, 

 and durability no manufactured fabrics excel them. But expanding 

 civilization is steadily diminishing the supply of furs, both by in- 

 creasing the demand and by encroaching upon the territory in which 

 they are produced. Many furs, like ivory, whalebone, and other 

 natural commodities, already are so scarce that the demand for them 

 is met largely by the substitution of inferior products. Activity in 

 the pursuit of fur-bearing animals and development of system in 

 handling and marketing the furs have reached a degree scarcely to be 

 surpassed. Therefore the growing and world-wide demand for furs 

 of high quality can be met only by increasing the number of the 

 animals producing them. This at once suggests that fur bearers may 

 be propagated in confinement, and that by this means an important 

 industry may be developed. The idea is not new, for the domestica- 

 tion of fur-bearing animals has been the subject of considerable 

 thought and experiment in the past. Most of the early enterprises 

 were devoted to the smaller and less valuable animals, as skunks and 

 minks, and seldom advanced beyond theoretical or experimental 

 stages; but results of considerable importance have been obtained 

 recently with the blue fox in Alaska and with the silver fox in 

 eastern North America. 



The Biological Survey as yet has not investigated the Alaska blue 

 fox industry, but a study of silver fox raising has been made, in the 

 course of which a number of persons engaged in the business w^ere 

 visited and their methods examined.^ From this study it appears 

 that although many experiments have failed, a few have succeeded to 

 an extent indicating important possibilities for the future. It may 

 be stated, however, that success is not due to following any set of 

 rules, since much depends upon the personal fitness of the one con- 

 ducting the undertaking. It is to be remembered also that as a busi- 



" At the request of many of them the names of these fox breeders are with- 

 held, but thanks are due to all of them for the facilities and information which 

 they courteously furnished. 

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