The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-12-12
BRUTALITY GETS
FASHION, FURS
Savage Work of the Choppers
and Hunters
HOURS OF SUFFERING
For Animals in the Traps-Then, at
End of Desparine Wait, Cruel
Blow-c2nning of the
Trained Woodsman.

Trained Woodsman.
FROM the Duluth News-Tribune.
The fur taking season is now at its
height, and several hundred men and
boys will engage in 1t more or less ac-
lively in northern Minnesota until the end
of winter. The muskrat is the staple fur
bearer of this district and is being
slaughtered in the swamps from the out
skirts of Duluth to the northern frontier.
There are other animals which yield their
pelts to swell the exchequer of the trap
per, but they are comparatively scarce.
More than 5000, 900 rats are killed each
year in America and their skins dressed
for the market, appearing in stylish gar
ments under names which the humble
rodent would never be able to recognize.
OF the total perhaps half million skins
are taken in Minneso and the rivers
and swamps around Duluth give up their
full quota. as they are favorite breeding
grounds In spite of this death rate the
rats are not disappearing, and are now
as plentiful as they were score of
years ago. Muskrat and other furs form
a considerable article of local commerce.
To add this traffic to human wealth a
fearful amount of suffering Is inflicted
upon the dumb creatures of the woods
and rivers
Fur hunting is perhaps the most in
human of all the callings followed by
human beings. The killing of domestic
animals Is bad enough. the pursuit of
woodland game by the sportsman has
many savage aspects, particularly the
mutilation of wild things which limp
away to the Businesses of the forest to
meet a lingering death. but the taking of
fur so far exceeds them in cruelty that
there is scarcely room for comparison.
The animals which are the victims Of
the fur hunter are the beaver otter, fox,
mink. skunk, weazel, wolf, bear, martin
and muskrat.
Suffering Inflicted.
The great suffering inflicted is due to
the methods followed in the chase and
to the sharpened wits OF the victims, for
man has pursued them remorselessly for
centuries, and they have devised what
might be designated as a separate instinct
to avoid his snares. They are seldom
seen in the daytime. hence the use OF the
gun is out of the question. There is also
the expenditure of money, and also the
serious damaging of the hides, for holes
in skins depreciate them nearly 90 per
cent when II comes to reckoning dollars
and cents. So steel traps are called into
use
The men who hunt furs for the market
are known as trappers, because the trap
Is their weapon and their stock In trade.
They live far in the wilds. where the are
imals they seek are most plentiful. There
are hundreds of them In ST. Louis coun-
ty, mostly settlers in the country along
the rivers and swamps, who add to their
income by taking what furs they can
during the winter months when work on
the farm is impossible. Each has hun
dred or more traps. and a large territory
is covered in pursuit of the little crea-
lures they doom to destruction.
When promising spot is located, a
place that tracks in the sand mud or
snow warn the trapper Is freQuented by
otter. mink or muskrat, half a dozen to
a dozen traps are set on the runaways,
for the wild animals nearly always fol-
low beaten paths, and the trapper hur-
ries on to some other locality, often miles
away, and lays his instruments OF tor
ture, continuing until he has set out the
whole lot Then he returns to the first
and makes the rounds as often as indus
try or inclination prompt him, until he
has covered the last one Sometimes a
week will elapse before he visits a given
colony OF traps.
Know Habits of Wild.
The fur animal, as has been said is
a wary creature. but In spite of his
sharpened wits he is not a match for the
trapper, whose familiarity with the habits
and tricks of the wild is 30 great as to
be almost uncanny. He often has to
measure his cunning against the individ-
ual wisdom of some patriarchal beaver or
fox, grown gray in the business of dodg-
ing death. and the hunter always sue
ceeds in taking the veterans pelt In the
end. The traps are laid on the side of
the stream, or in shallow water, where
the creature he is seeking goes to seek
his food, or at the mouth Of the burrow
where he hides from his enemies They
are baited with the very thing the ami
NAL most prefers to eat, and when the
creature is sufficiently tempted or spurred
on by hunger, he steps on the fatal trig-
ger and his days are numbered.
Just here is where the horror of fur
hunting comes in The victim of what
ever species he may be realizes that he
is in the tolls of man. and in widest ter
ror and keenest pain (for the steel teeth
are cutting into flesh and tendon) he mad
ly STRUGGLES lot D. lew iAiihuton " IL Go
himself 1t is useless, for the cruel ma
chine is not constructed to give up its
prey. Then comes over the little crea-
lures heart the feeling of despair. He
settles down to waiting, hour after hour
the gripping steel ever cutting deeper into
his flesh He is perfectly still now and
utters no outcry. Your wild animal pre-
fers to suffer in silence. Perhaps In his
little way he reasons that there may still
be some hope of escape, and he does not
care to notify the enemy, who may be
lurking he knows not how near, Of his
hopelessness Only the heaving of his
sides as his lungs rise and fall would tell
the observer that there is any life in the
little body-that and the restless rowing
of the sharp dark eyes that are In an
instant focused upon any point where
there is movement that might portend
the approach of the barbarian in whose
hand is the instrument that carries sud
den death.
Long Hours Of Despair.
If the animal is caught shortly after
the trap is laid there is often a whit of
days, even a week, before death releases
him from his agonies. During all this
time the steel keeps up its agonizlng pres
sure the creature is benumbed by the
cold and sometimes succumbs before the
cruel hand that laid the Internal machine
can perform it's only ret of mercy. But
kindly death does not come often In this
way, for the fur-bearing animal. as a
rule Is extremely tenacious of life.