Abstract
DURING the last quarter of a century there has been an enormous increase in the demand for furs. In the United States alone, according to Mr. David C. Mills, the general director of the National Association of the Fur Industry, “the annual catch of fur bearers in the United States was roughly estimated at about twenty-five millions of dollars twenty-five years ago. We estimate it roughly at sixty millions to-day, with quantities fairly well maintained, on the whole, because of the impetus given to trapping by the higher returns to the trapper.” But this impetus means more intensive slaughter. How great the slaughter is may be gathered from the lists of skins exposed for sale at the fur auctions during the winter of 1925. The total number of skins (excluding Chinese and Australian) greatly exceeded four and a half millions, and a few of the larger items included: skunk 652,293, American opossum 456,195, musquash 787,195, squirrel 837,097, mole 357,599.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
RITCHIE, J. Biology and the Fur Trade. Nature 116, 85–86 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116085a0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116085a0