The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-07-11
FUR-BEARING
ANIMALS FOR PROFIT
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKIN


taiseu IN captivity is Of fine ou,Iit,,
.nc animal suffers bv the chance fron5
ms natural conditions. and in tbc Ncw
hRIahd preserves has been attackcr
~ parasite which greatly weaken,
Raising foxes is not da,o,o-,,,
business: but the same cannot he CO.,
OF skunk farming DR.. Elliott Cones
the great naturalist, saws: ssTo donnnd
! upon ihe good will of go irritabje .nJ
SO formidable a beast. whose tcmnn,
may De rufhed IN a moment, is as haz.
q U"Y r,,s ss tne enjoyment or cigar in
thnp poT"rt .i,u magazine. Not only has
nc skunk powerful means Of aeIf
ueIense which has brought him into
nlalodorous lnfamy. but his bite is er.
tremeiy dangerous, being liable N
cause 2 disease closely akin Ia bvdro'
pnoola and equally as fatal. Notwith.
sIhl4lhg the difficulties of the business
sMunh farming has been tried in sew
@ oaaa ., INC States and is now being
s,afr'eu OH IN OHIO, Indiana and the In
dlan Territory, if not IN other places
about cight years ago a ncwsnan ner
s.ory intended TO be taken as a Joke
started hundreds of peonle inmiring
about skunl1 farming, aud indneeS
nlanF 10 actually engage IN the bust
s less inns story purported TO como
rom nlgh official in the Department
~ y ,tag. hgticustare: 1T declared that with
q START or twenty skunks the natural
l1Crease nnn IN four years wonld be $3.50
uQ9 skunksi worth dollar apiece for
hidcs and fifty cents an ounce far oil
made from the fat Colonel seller
never thought Of scheme in which
'here were so many millions
One company formed in Penusvl
wanna spent $4,000 on a skunk rarmino
experiment based upon these remarI5,
able figures, but had 10 give it M as
losing investment. Others went into
tne business on a smaller scale and have
continued, some of them making a fuir
return on their money. The Pennsyl.
wanna experiment started out with 400
shunks IN twcntv-acre enclosure The
promoters expected TO have 1000 ami.
mas oY the next year, but instead there
was n decrease. This led TO closer
study of the habits of the animals and
they were found TO be cannibals The
maie skunks ate the young ones almost
as soon rs they were born.
The female and their Young were
thcn separated from the males, when
~ was GlScovercd that they ate each
other 5 broods The only successful
nes"2u lound was 10 put each female
and her semi-annual litter i'm a sen.
arate enclosure, which entailed an OK.
pcnsc. altogether tou great for the re-
tnrn III pelts and oil, This experiment
that it is difficult 10 suc.
cesstullN propagate skunks in can
nvIty. without providing separate quar-.
lers TOR each family. which is lmprac.
''caole on large scale.
The skunk is great rooter and
ilgger in captivity he must be prn.
vided with mounds of earth into which
he burrows in the daytime and through
the cold weather. There must be nun.
nlng water in the enclosure and ponds /
tor frogs: because frogs arc the most |
favored dlsh on the skuuk menu. He !
eats bugs and worms of all kinds and .
IS fond Of fresh meat and vegets bles. /
contrary 10 popular belief. The skunk /
S very clcanly animal and its flesh |
S good to eat.
The Indian Territory skunk farm is
'nclosed by 4 fence Of wire mesh such
as Is used for poultry yards The
.cncc IS set IN a trench two or three
cct wide and three feet deep. The
POTION of the wire mesh is folded down
o form an extension for two feet on
he bottom of the trench. inside the
'nclosure. This trench is filed with
lirt and packed down. When the
5unk. attempts to gain his freedom.
Is he is sure 10 do, he viii dig down
lose to the fence. When he finds the
horizontal wire below he concludes that
here is "a woven wire bottom TO the
whole pasture and gives MP the pur-
uit of liberty, On the. earlier farms
he trench was filed with rocks. but
his did not always keep the animals
II. Foxes confined in the Indian Ter
itoTy farm proved their intellectual
uperiority over The skunk by digging
own to the woven wire, and then bur
owing away from the fence until the
dge Of the wire was reached, making
heir escape.
How 10 kill the skunks without Civ
ng them time TO become angry and
o mako the neigh borhood unpopular,
as been q difficult problem TO solve,
I'D trappers lure them gently TO the
,ater and drown them. meanwhile keep
nc carefully to windward. One Hoo
Ter skunk farmer made pen with a
lota1 bottom which was connected
nth a live electric wire. The skunlts
yere decoyed into this pen: the cur
rnt turned on, and they were dead IN
n instant, their pelts being odorlcss,
he odor sacks may be removed from
be young skunks when they are about
en days old, but the animal never
hrives as we'll and lis fur is not so
ne. Such animals are also more liable
D inhict poisonous bites
Because Of the growing scarcity of
eavers, attempts have heen made to
car them in captivity. but so Tar
yi,hout much success. The beavers IN
he National Geological gardens at
have 10 be fed by throw
no small trees and limbs TO them. as
ell as bread and vegetables. The
eaver colony there consists of less
nan dozen individuals; but they Will
OF tolerate the intrusion of any other
nmily. Other beavers placed IN the
uclosurc are Immediately set upon and