The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-02
Alaska SABLE IS SKUNK SKIN.
Most Despised of AIucrica's Animals
Valuable.

Valuable.
Correspondence OF the Sc. louis Globe
Democrat
Skunk skins are one Of the biggest stems
in the fur market. They go under the
attractive name of Alaska sable" 1t is
not believed that there are many skunks
ia Alaska the latitude being too high tor
them, but q good many thousands of the
pelts are taken in the British possessions,
passing through the hands of the Hudson
Bay Company. A vast number of ladies'
muffs are made of this kind of fur. which
frequently is passed off for that of the big.
long haired Abyssinian monkey
Eighty cents apiece may not seem a 5ery
high wholesale price for the best skunk
skins, bus the profit in the farming busi-
ness referred 10 lies mainly in the fact
that it involves no expense worth men
tioning. The most barren land is suita-
be for the purpose, fenced in, and The
animals may be fed on offal.
Many people have a notion that skunk
farms are like frog farms in one respect
namely that they have no existence in
fact. This is a mistake. There are quite
number of actual skunk farms in oper-
alton.
The little animals are by no means hard
to manage, being as tamable as kittens. In
fact the Mephitis Americana is remark
able for its lack of fear of man. This
may be due in part TO lis confidence in its
own weapon, but ID will never use this ex-
cept under great provocation. In other
words, it must be badly frightened or act
ually hurt. 1t seeks the neighborhood of
human habitation. The little spotted
of
IN the far West, the undesirable glands
being cut out
one point which the government experts
want 10 ascertain is how the skunk farm
ers kin their stock. Old trappers say that
a skunk will never give vent to it's pecu-
liar secretion if its back is broken by a
quick blow. The reason for this doubt
less IS that the rear part of its body is
paralyzed by such a blow. On the other
hand. it is known that the most instant
death by shooting, even if the animals
head be blown off, win not prevent the
use OF the function. The peculiar secre-
ton OF the skunk is a remedy for asthma
IL IS rather an interesting fact that the
skunk and the mink are the only true fur
bearing animals that have ever been semi
domestieated. Minks have been bred for
their skins in so-called mlnkeries, Just as
is being done with the skunks in what
The skunk itself is an animal unknown
IN the Old World, being exclusively Amer
lcan. There are two species of large
skunks in the eastern part of North Amer
ica their distribution extending from Hud-
son Bay to Florida. Tn the West several
more species ore found all the way from
British Columbia to the table lands of
southern Mexico. Generally speaking
they increase la size with the latitude
r.1 affa
one-half feet sometimes in Minnesota. Be
sides these, there are about ten species Of
small notified skunks, which have no val
ue from the point of view of the furriAr
FARMERS make great mistake In kill
ing skunks, as they do whenever thew get
a chance, because they are most beneficial
animals from the point of view of the n.y.
reuituriSt. They live chiefly upon insects
eating great numbers of grasshoppers and
Injurious beetles. They also devour auan-
titles of mice In these ways they do an
amount of good which is not offset to anv
serious extent by the occasional robbery
o. hen roost. They eat worms. snails
and sometimes small fruits.
The skunk is chiefly nocturnal in its hab-
its, prowling for food in the dark though
II IS often seen abroad in the daytime In
the Northern part Of its range it hiber-
nates to some extent 1t lives in b,Ir
ioM' winch runs near the surface of fiat
ground for distance of six or eight feet
ending in a chamber lined with leaves
where from FIVE to fifteen individuals are
huddled together in winter The animal
is quite prolific, eight or ten young being
produced by the female in May.
The flesh of the skunk is eaten by some
Indian tribes. The bite is understood to
be very dangerous, producing hydrophobia.
but this is disputed. II has been alleged
that even very little of the secretion,
coming into contact with the eye of man
or dog, will cause blindness; but this has
been disproved.
One naturalist had a pet skunk which
followed him wherever he went. This
gentleman says that he has eaten skunk
flesh boiled, broiied roasted fried and
fricassed, and he asserts that anything
more toothsome in the way of meat is hard
to get.