The Alaska daily empire., 1920-03-08
Juneau, Alaska, March 5, 1920


 statement in the issue of your paper of February Is, to which some of my friends called my attention. In his statement 1 see that his Siberian rabbits that he says is only a strain of the Flemish Giants. bring him a litter every thirty one days.
 would think that a person when writing to a newspaper that has hun dreds of intelligent readers would use a little common sense
 Practice like that is rotten. and inhuman. It brings no profit to the practitioner and is only torture to the small innocent rabbits. Persons who follow the practice should be punish ed and they would be if there was a humane society up here as there is in the states. To this society l once had the honor of belonging and hold ing an office
 I ought to know something about the management of rabbits as l have been growing rabbits and chickens for the past ten years. Last year cut out all breeds but the Siberian and the Arctic
 The rabbit does period of gesta- tion is thirty days. At the close of this time she closes up her litter in the nest for three weeks until the young ones get their eyes and fur During this time she nurses them twice day. When the three weeks are up she opens up the nest and the young ones come out and if they were to be taken away from the mother they would not amount tc much as rabbits as they should stay with their mother for at least five weeks more.
 Great Britian is the greatest rab- bit producing country in the world There have regularly organized rab bit clubs. I will quote what Mere dith Fradd of London, President of the United Kingdom Rabbit Club says on the management of rabbits in regards to removing the youngsters from the doe; When the young rab- bits begin to leave their nests, they soon commence to feed with the mother and when they are seven or eight weeks old they may be remov- ed from the doe, taking away one or two of the strongest each day With good feeding she may visit the buck in fifteen days although an extra few days is an advantage to doe that has brought up litter"
 He says this in regards to common rabbits and I know from experience that if doe is bred before her young ones have eyes and fur she will neglect her litter and they will die. If the creator had meant that the rabbit should bring litter every thirty days he would have provided the young with eyes and fur so they could help themselves.
 Persons who think they know the rabbit business and say that rabbits should litter every thirty days should come out to my place and I will dem enstrate to them that they do not know as much about the rabbit bus mess as they think
 In regards to breeds there is as much difference in both size and col or of the Flemish Giants and the Sl. berian Blacks as between a crow and a raven. The Siberians have smaller, ears and more clear cut heads and have not the great chin-bags that the Flemish Giants have.
 do not care what they call my rabbits, they may call them Himalay ain which is the smaller variety of rabbit. for all. care. I believe in the old proverb, "It does not matter what the name of the farm is, as long as it grows plenty of corn and wheat" know that I have the goods and no one can deny it.
 got my original stock direct from Siberia six years ago from the cap tain of a whaler who purchased a | young buck that I received last Nov ember, and although I need money | $500 would not purchase him. He has three inch fur and I am just wonder ing if some of the smart alexs that are able to strain Siberian Blacks l from Flemish Giants could not l strain little further so the young | rabbits would come into this world with fox tail The young buck | that have could not be told from a black fox if he had a fox tail and his head were covered.
 Tourists who have visited my place at Spuhn Island last summer pur- | chased two does and buck and said that they had seen many rabbits but none like mine. They were much in terested in Alaskan furs and said that in years to come the head of an Alaskan rabbit Gas I call mine) will be as great an ornament as the tail is on fox pelt now
 I have reason for calling my rab- bits the Alaskan Blacks as the fur brings the best price on the market and breed and grow them here in Alaska and some claim that the Si- berian Black originally came from Alaska
 The year before settled down here on the Island travelled all over Alaska trying to get hold of black foxes and when in the interior and at Nome l was talking to trappers