The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-17

lieve they have a money-making idea
II they can only wait long enough.
At first the plan was to propagate
/ the Silver-gray fox, Of which the fur
IS four or five times as valuable as that
OF the blue fox. IT proved imDracti-
I cable, however, mainly on account of
the ferociOus character of the animals.
which refused to be domesticated. The
silver gray fox is really more Of a wolf
Jhan a fox in instincts and disposition
one or its pleasant traits is a habit of
fighting its companions and destroying
It's own young. The culture of the
sllVer-gray fox has now so generally
been given up that on only one island
can it be found in any considerable
numbers.
1t is on the Atu and Pribilof islands
that the blue fox was first found. but
the supply IS now nearly exhausted
As the Pribilofs are a government RESI-
erVatlon; no live animals can be taken
away without a special permit, ana all
the skins which the natives obtain
there they are obliged to sell to the
North American Commercial company.
The price paid is S. a pelt. The first
systematic experiment in bIue-fox
breeding was made with twenty-five
foxes taken from the PribiIOf islands
and landed on North Semili island, a
barren and unknown waste. Although
no one knew the habits of the foxes
and everything had to be done ten
tatiVely, including the finding of arti-
fetal means of feeding them. still. from
the progeny Of these pioneer foxes
nearly twenty other islands have been
stocked. Some of the barren islands
of Alaska, indeed, show no sign of be
ing good for any other use The meth
cd of caring for the foxes is substan-
TALLY the same everywhere. Each is
land has a keeper and one or two ma
tive assistants They put UP the food
for the animals during the summer.
consisting Of unmarketable fish, blub-
Der and oil and cornmeal. The foxes
come al regular hour every day to be
fed, like ordinary domestic animals.
and soon learn to know their careta1-
ers, but continue wild and suspicious
in the presence Of strangers.
One of the first problems which had
to be mastered, was how to catch the
foxes without harming their skins, as
1t would not do to shoot them or use
any kind of sharp instrument in their
capture. Another consideration is the
necessity Of leaving those animals IN
injured which are to be continued in
use for breeding. Box traps only are,
therefore. used But the chief virtue
or these mas its drawbacks, for all the
foxes come into the traps, attracted By
the bait. and when those which are to
be kept for breeding find that no harm
comes to them, they become not only
fearless, but greedy. and hurry to run
in and spring the traps as soon as set,
to the great annoyance Of the breeder
and the hindrence of the proper bust
Hess. The foxes set apart for breeding
are marked by clipping the hair at the
tips of their tails 50 as to prevent con-
fusion with others or recounting.
1t is considered probable that the
domestication of the fox viii set
vogue for the domestication of other
fur-bearing ANIMALS and thus build up
a very valuable and permanent indus
try. The Russian sable is one of the
animals talked Of in connection with
this idea. One enthusiast has already
evolved the notion that an island set
apart for raising bears would be a
good thing. He has launched his ex-
pertinent and has already a dozen or
more bears. but the market seems still
too well stocked to make much of a
demand for his special product