FOREST AND STREAM 
581 
Fox Fanning in Newfoundland 
By W. J. Carroll. 
Within the last year or two, fox-farming has 
become almost a craze in Newfoundland. Tales 
of fabulous wealth accumulated by dealers in 
Prince Edward Island, coupled with compara¬ 
tively large prices obtained for certain live foxes 
caught by local trappers, encouraged the belief, 
now almost universal over the Island, that “there’s 
millions” in the business. 
As a result there was a great rush for licenses 
to establish fox farms. These were procurable 
for a nominal sum, and up to December 30th, 
1913, 275 licenses were issued. As only seventy- 
seven applicants had at that time any foxes the 
other one hundred and ninety eight apparently 
took licenses on speculation. The actual number 
of foxes now in captivity, according to the offi¬ 
cial figures, which, however, are not_ complete, 
amounts to 429. Of this number 208 are males, 
and 221 females. They are described as follows: 
Red, 252; patch 137; silver, 38, and black, 2. 
A glance will show that the stock on the farms 
is a very valuable one, but it is hoped that after 
the approaching breeding season its value will 
be increased more than tenfold. 
Last season it was prohibited to export any 
foxes except those bred on the farms. The 
fact that they were so bred should be verified 
on affidavit by some responsible person in con¬ 
nection with the farm. Under these conditions 
sixty foxes were exported, viz: Seventeen silver, 
thirty-nine patch and four reds. The returns 
further show that about eighty-nine foxes were 
bred for the year, fifty-nine trapped, one hundred 
and fifty-three purchased by proprietors of farms, 
and twenty-seven died in captivity. 
The rule regarding the export of foxes was, 
after a great deal of discussion, unanimously 
adopted by the Board. The intention was to pro¬ 
tect the industry for a few years and keep the 
best breeding stock on the Island, so that if the 
industry turned out to be successful our own 
people would reap the benefit, and not become 
mere trappers for the fox farmers in Canada. It 
was argued that, if everyone was allowed to trap | 
and export foxes, in a very few years this valu- j 
able industry would cease, as the foxes would | 
be cleaned out of Newfoundland to stock the ! 
farms of our rivals. 
But there is a widespread belief that those 
who were permitted to export foxes according 
to law abused the privilege, and it is alleged that j 
some of them not only shipped foxes that were 
not raised and bred on their farms, but also 
encouraged trappers and others to rob the bur¬ 
rows in the close season and supply them with 1 
young foxes, which they afterward shipped, 
under affidavit, as having been bred on their 
farms. It is also alleged that certain persons 
interested entered into a close combine and de¬ 
cided the prices that should be paid for stock, 
Out of the Cool Stillness Come Bass and Pickerel. 
